UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


NEW 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 


BY 

ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART,  LL.D. 


PROFESSOR  OF  GOVERNMENT 
HARVARD    UNIVERSITY 


AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 


33902 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY 
ALBERT   BUSHNKU.   HART 


ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 


E 

nil 

H; 


THE.  AUTHOR  TO   THE   TEACHER 

Tins  book  is  prepared  with  a  view  to  a  simple  system  of 
study  and  teaching  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

(1)  The  textbook  will  be  carefully  read  and  studied  by  the 
pupils :  first,  for  the  acquirement  of  a  body  of  useful  facts, 
and  then  for  a  sense  of  the  movement  and  proportions  of  the 
history  of  the  country.     Essential  names,  events,  and  dates  go 
directly  into  the  text ;    the  dates  in  parentheses  are  inserted 
merely  to  keep  straight  the  progress  of  events. 

(2)  Class  exercises  will  be  based  first  of  all  upon  the  text, 
with  such  methods  of  recitation,   question,  and  quiz  as  the 
teacher  may  prefer.     Here  is  the  opportunity  to  show  how 
previous  chapters  bear  on  the  day's  subject,  and  to  enlarge  the 
subject,  through  the  teacher's  knowledge. 

(3)  Outside  reading  of  additional  books  by  the  pupils  will 
greatly  aid  in  accomplishing  the  teacher's  purpose.    A  textbook, 
in  order  to  cover  the  ground,  must  briefly  notice  many  facts 
and  statements  which  can  be  enlarged  to  advantage  out  of  other 
books.     The  lists  of  references  which  follow  each  of  the  chapters 
are  guides  to  a  variety  of  formal  histories,  biographies,  and 
reference  books.    Special  attention  is  called  to  the  lists  of  sources, 
illustrative  works,  and  pictures. 

(4)  Written  work  has  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  ad- 
juncts of  historical  study  in  the  secondary  school :  it  may  take 
many  forms,  such  as  essays,  based  on  secondary  authorities ; 
reports,  based  in  whole  or  in  part  on  sources ;   brief  "judgment 
questions"  set  and  answered  in  class;  or  "written  recitations." 
The  chapter  references  will  aid  in  such  work.     The  first  group  of 
"Topics"  can  be  prepared  mostly  by  enlarging  the  brief  state- 
ments of  the  textbook  from  general  histories,  biographies,  ency- 


iv  The  Author  to  the  Teacher 

clopedias,  and  similar  accessible  books.  The ' '  Topics  for  Further 
Search"  suggest  the  use  of  a  larger  range  of  secondary  writers 
and  of  the  available  sources.  Naturally  the  school  pupil's  use 
of  sources  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  historian's  re- 
search. It  is  worth  while  to  learn  that  "sources"  are  simply 
records  made  at  or  near  the  time  of  events  by  people  in  a  posi- 
tion to  know  what  was  going  on.  Well-selected  sources  bring 
home  to  the  mind  the  reality  of  history;  they  bring  out  the 
human  element ;  they  vitalize  past  times. 

(5)  Geography  and  map  work,  oral  and  written,  are  aided 
by  the  abundant  maps  in  the  text  and  those  referred  to  in 
accessible  volumes  and  atlases  mentioned  in  the  chapter  ref- 
erences. 

In  using  this  book  as  a  foundation  for  teaching  it  may  be 
well  to  keep  in  mind  the  features  of  the  work  which  the  author 
believes  to  be  most  important  for  the  pupil  and  most  helpful  to 
the  teacher.  They  may  be  summed  up  as  follows :  (i)  Political 
geography,  as  the  background  of  national  history,  is  emphasized 
throughout  the  book  and  made  available  by  maps  and  geo- 
graphical references.  (2)  The  people  of  the  United  States  form 
one  of  the  main  factors  throughout,  so  that  social  conditions 
and  events  have  been  freely  described;  and  that  part  of  the 
work  is  backed  up  by  many  of  the  references,  especially  those 
under  "Sources"  and  "Illustrative."  (3)  The  economic  fea- 
tures of  American  history  are  dwelt  upon  in  many  sections,  and 
particularly  in  those  chapters  dealing  with  pursuits,  industries, 
trade,  and  business.  One  of  the  main  threads  running  through 
the  book  is  the  process  by  which  the  continent  has  been  occupied 
and  the  gifts  of  nature  have  been  made  available.  (4)  All 
sections  of  the  country  have  helped  to  make  the  Union ;  hence, 
all  sections,  North,  East,  South,  West,  and  far  West  have  been 
included  in  the  plan  of  the  volume.  (5)  Since  what  makes  a 
nation  is  the  greatness  of  its  people,  this  book  aims  to  bring  out 
clearly  the  character  and  public  services  of  great  Americans. 
The  details  of  the  lives  of  some  of  these  men  appear  in  special 


The  Author  to  the  Teacher  v 

sections  of  the  text.  (6)  Foreign  relations,  diplomatic  con- 
troversies, and  their  settlement  receive  due  attention.  (7) 
The  accounts  of  military  and  naval  events  include  little  detail 
of  battles  and  campaigns,  in  order  to  make  room  for  discussions 
of  the  causes,  aims,  and  conduct  of  our  various  wars  and  the 
state  of  public  feeling  behind  them.  (8)  The  government  of 
the  American  people  is  another  main  subject  throughout  the 
book,  though  it  is  treated  not  technically,  but  so  as  to  show 
the  main  principles,  and  the  way  they  have  worked  out  in  the 
course  of  time.  (9)  The  bibliographical  apparatus  has  been 
brought  down  to  narrow  space  limits  by  abbreviating  the  titles. 
The  more  important  books  are  listed  in  Appendix  B ;  and  the 
place  and  date  of  publication  of  any  book  mentioned  can  always 
be  found  through  a  library.  (10)  The  list  of  sources  gives  an 
opportunity  to  reach  selected  extracts  or  extended  documents ; 
a  selected  set  of  source  publications  can  easily  be  made  up  from 
these  indications,  (n)  Special  efforts  have  been  made  to  gather 
a  convenient  list  of  illustrative  works,  descriptive  volumes, 
stories,  novels,  and  other  interesting  matter.  (12)  The  pictures, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  reproductions  of  famous  paintings, 
are  all  realities,  intended  to  place  before  the  pupil  in  visible 
form  the  faces  of  public  men,  the  surroundings  of  famous  events, 
and  some  of  the  national  monuments  and  buildings.  (13)  In 
Appendix  A  will  be  found  a  select  list  of  materials  found  service- 
able to  teachers. 

Pains  have  been  taken  to  make  the  book  as  free  from  errors  in 
fact  and  statement  as  possible.  The  chapters  have  been  verified 
by  Mr.  David  M.  Matteson.  To  combine  into  one  volume  the 
broad  and  manifold  phases  of  a  great  nation's  life  is  a  difficult 
task.  I  have,  at  least,  tried  to  write  about  the  things  that 
count ;  to  describe  events  which  have  aided  to  make  us  Ameri- 
cans; to  set  before  my  young  countrymen  the  ideal  of  true 

national  greatness. 

ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART. 


CONTENTS 


BEGINNINGS 

AP. 

I.   Foundations  of  American  History 
II.   The  Century  of  Discovery  (1492-1604) 


COLONIZATION 

III.  European  Colonization  (1604-1660)        .....  34 

IV.  English  Colonization  after  1660      ......  57 

V.   Social  and  Political  Life  (1680-1.763)      .....  72 

VI.    France  and  the  West  (1670-1763)  .        .   •     .         .         .  91 

VII.    Colonial  Business  (1750-1775)        ......  107 


REVOLUTION  AND  THE   CONSTITUTION 

VIII.   Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution  (1763-1781)          .         .  126 

^K^.   Building  of  a  New  Nation  (1775-1781)  .....  151 

X.   Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution  (1781-1788)     .         .  168 


THE   FEDERAL   UNION 

XI.  The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union  (1780-1800)  .         .     193 

XII.  Applying  the  Constitution  (1780-1793)  .....     209 

XIII.  Beginning  of  Party  Politics  (1793-1801)          .         .         .         .223 

XIV.  Expansion  of  the  Republic  (1801-1809)          ....     237 
XV.  War  with  Great  Britain  (1800-1815)      .....     252 


NATIONAL   SPIRIT 

XVI.   Settling  the  West  (1800-1820)        ......  265 

XVII.   The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  (1806-1823)     .  283 

XVIII.   Growth  of  National  Spirit  (1815-1830)  .....  295 

vi 


Contents  vii 

SECTIONALISM 

CHAP.  PACE 

XIX.  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions  (1829-1841)      .        .        .    300 

XX.  New  Political  Issues  (1829-1841) 323 

XXI.  Advance  to  the  Pacific  (1841-1850)    .        .        ."     .         .337 

XXII.  Economic  Progress  (1830-1860) 358 

XXIII.  Sectional  Controversy  (1850-1859) 382  / 

CIVIL  WAR 

XXIV.  Division  between  North  and  South  (1860-1861)        .        .    40 1 
XXV.    North  and  South  in  1861 420 

XXVI.   The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War  (1861-1865)        .         .     435 
XXVII.   Civil  Side  of  the  War  (1861-1865) 464 

REORGANIZATION 

XXVIII.  Reconstruction  of  the  Union  (1865-1876)  .        .        .        .484 

XXIX.  Social  and  Economic  Changes  '(iSSs^TsSs)         .         .         .503 

XXX.  Politics  and  Administration  (1876-1896)    .         .         .         .519 

XXXI.  Regulation  of  Business  (1885-1895) 537 

THE  WORLD   POWER 

XXXII.  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results  (1895-1003)  .  .  .559 

XXXIII.  New  South  and  Far  West  (1885-1916)       .        .  .  .577 

XXXIV.  Broadening  of  the  Government  (1001-1912)      .  .  .     598 
XXXV.  The  United  States  as  a  World  Power  (1912-1917)  .  .     619 

XXXVI.   What  America  Has  Done  for  the  World    .        .        .        .632 
XXXVII.  The  United  States  in  the  Great  War          .        .        .        .647 

APPENDICES 

A.  Brief  List  of  Desk  Books ix 

B.  General  Bibliography x 

C.  States  of  the  Union xvi 

D.  Declaration  of  Independence xviii 

E.  Constitution  of  the  United  States  xxi 


NEW  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

CHAPTER   I 

FOUNDATIONS   OF  AMERICAN   HISTORY 
i.   DAWN  or  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

WHERE  does  American  history  begin?  The  true  fathers 
of  America  are  the  Europeans  who,  three  or  four  centuries 
ago,  had  the  courage  to  voyage  across  unknown  seas,  and  the 
persistence  to  plant  colonies  beyond  the  ocean.  The  men  of 
each  colony  brought  with  them  the  religion,  language,  laws, 
and  methods  of  government  to  which  they  and  their  ancestors 
were  accustomed ;  hence  the  early  history  of  America  is  really 
a  part  of  European  history.  The  first  American  colonists 
were  simply  Spaniards,  Portuguese,  or  Frenchmen  in  America ; 
and  the  English  settlers  who  removed  overseas  looked  upon 
themselves  as  still  a  part  of  the  English  people.  When  that 
bond  was  broken  by  the  Revolution  of  1775,  the  United  States 
became  at  once  one  of  the  family  of  civilized  nations.  Our  his- 
tory has  always  been  closely  connected  with  that  of  Europe  by 
commerce,  by  immigration,  by  sharing  the  world's  literatures, 
by  interchange  of  inventions  and  principles  of  government. 

Five  hundred  years  ago,  the  only  parts  of  the  world  that  were 
known  to  Europeans  were  their  own  continent,  the  neighboring 
islands,  and  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  The  discovery  of  America 
was  a  result  in  great  part  of  that  new  spirit  of  interest  in  the  past 


2  Foundations  of  American  History 

and  curiosity  about  the  world,  which  we  call  the  Renaissance. 
When,  about  the  year  1300,  men  of  modern  European  nations 
began  to  appreciate  the  beauty  and  power  of  ancient  writers 
and  of  ancient  works  of  art,  interest  in  nature  sprang  up  again 
with  passionate  force,  and  with  it  the  desire  to  know  the  shape 
and  extent  of  the  world.  Hence,  when  a  new  commercial  route 
from  Europe  to  India  was  needed,  men  were  willing  to  take 
great  risks,  to  sail  across  the  unknown  western  ocean,  and  to 
explore  lands  hitherto  undreamed  of. 

2.   INVENTIONS 

The  new  spirit  showed  itself  especially  in  two  inventions 
(both  previously  known  in  China),  which  helped  discovery  and 
exploration:  (i)  Gunpowder,  first  used  in  war  about  1350, 
enabled  the  invaders  of  America  to  beat  the  savages.  (2)  Print- 
ing with  movable  types,  probably  first  practiced  in  Europe  by 
Gutenberg  in  1450,  served  to  spread  the  fame  of  the  New 
World. 

Long  voyages  became  possible  because  the  art  of  navigation 
was  steadily  advancing.  Seagoing  ships  were  now  fitted  with 
keels  and  single  rudders,  with  heavy  spars  and  square  sails; 
and  for  defense  from  the  seas  and  from  enemies,  they  were  pro- 
vided with  high  bulwarks,  with  "  forecastles"  and  "aftercastles." 
There  was  little  distinction  between  merchantmen  and  war- 
ships :  in  time  of  war  the  trader  simply  took  on  a  few  more  guns 
and  men  and  became  a  fighting  cruiser. 

Naval  science  was  immensely  aided  by  four  inventions,  which 
by  1450  were  widely  used :  (i)  The  wondrous  art  of  sailing  on 
the  wind  gave  confidence  to  men  on  long  voyages,  because  they 
could  get  back  against  an  adverse  wind.  (2)  The  magnetic 
compass  was  a  guide  far  out  of  sight  of  land,  and  when  the 
stars  were  not  visible.  (3)  The  astrolabe  enabled  the  mariner 
roughly  to  estimate  his  distance  from  the  equator.  (4)  The 
portolano,  or  sea  chart,  showed  what  was  known  about  the  seas 
and  coasts. 


Europe  and  the  East  3 

3.  EUROPE  AND  THE  EAST 

The  approach  to  American  history  came  through  the  attempt 
to  establish  new  relations  between  Europe  and  Asia.  In  1450 
P^urope  had  no  direct  intercourse  by  sea  with  India,  China,  and 


EARLY  ROUTES  OF  COMMERCE  BETWEEN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA.     (Showing 
the  Portuguese  discoveries  along  the  African  coast.) 

Japan.  Eastern  products  found  their  way  westward  only  by 
transfer  overland  at  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  by  a  slow  and 
expensive  caravan  journey  across  Asia,  over  routes  Which  were 
broken  in  two  by  the  Turks  when  they  took  Constantinople  in 
1453.  After  that,  how  were  Europeans  to  get  such  eastern 


4  Foundations  of  American  History 

products  as  carpets  and  silks,  pearls  and  cotton  goods,  the  sweet 
white  powder  called  sugar,  the  gums,  and  the  pepper  that  some- 
times sold  for  its  weight  in  gold  ? 

One  European,  Marco  Polo,  had  actually  crossed  Asia  and  re- 
turned from  the  Chinese  coast  in  1295,  and  thus  reported  :  "And 
I  tell  you  with  regard  to  that  Eastern  Sea  of  Chin,  according  to 
what  is  said  by  the  experienced  pilots  and  mariners  of  those 
parts,  there  be  7459  Islands  in  the  waters  frequented  by  the  said 
mariners.  .  .  .  And  there  is  not  one  of  those  Islands  but  pro- 
duces valuable  and  odorous  woods  .  .  .  and  they  produce  also 
a  great  variety  of  spices."  In  course  of  time  the  question  began 
to  be  asked,  Why  might  not  the  Spice  Islands  and  Japan  be 
reached  by  sea  from  western  Europe?  Hence  attempts  were 
made  to  find  an  eastward  water  passage  around  Europe  by  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  and  around  Africa  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Moreover,  the  learned  men  of  the  Renaissance  pointed  out 
that  the  ancients  believed  the  world  to  be  round.  A  strange 
book  of  wonders,  called  the  Travels  of  Sir  John  Mandevillc 
(published  about  1370),  says,  "For  when  the  sun  is  east  in 
those  parts  towards  paradise  terrestrial,  it  is  then  midnight  in 
our  parts  of  this  half,  for  the  roundness  of  the  earth.  For  our 
Lord  God  made  the  earth  all  round  in  the  midplace  of  the 
firmament."  By  1470  the  Florentine  astronomer  Toscanelli 
figured  out  the  circumference  of  the  earth  at  very  nearly  its 
true  length.  If  the  world  was  really  round,  why  was  it  not 
possible  to  reach  India  by  sailing  westward  instead  of  east- 
ward ? 

4.  THE  EARLY  COLONIZING  NATIONS 

Such  a  question  could  best  be  answered  by  the  maritime 
nations  of  western  Europe  —  by  Italy,  Spain,  France,  England, 
and  Portugal.  The  Portuguese  had  already  begun  to  make  long 
voyages  west  and  south.  They  discovered  or  rediscovered  the 
four  groups  of  the  Canary,  Madeira,  Cape  Verde,  and  Azores 
islands.  Under  the  direction  of  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator, 


The  Early  Colonizing  Nations  5 

their  vessels  pushed  down  the  west  coast  of  Africa;  but  at 
the  time  of  his  death  they  had  reached  no  farther  south  than 
Sierra  Leone. 

The  neighbor  and  great  rival  of  Portugal  was  Spain.  The 
marriage  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  with  Isabella  of  Castile  brought 
under  one  sovereignty  the  Christian  parts  of  that  land.  In  1492, 
by  the  conquest  of  the  Moors  of  Granada  (southern  Spain),  the 
way  was  cleared  for  one  great  Spanish  kingdom.  Twenty-seven 


WESTERN  EUROPE  ABOUT  1500.     (Showing  the  chief  commercial  centers  and 
routes  of  trade.) 


Z/#r~\3®K     7<1  'ivK"^       ^W  W 


g[L 

-  -.,. 


I'  -I  , 


I!  ill 
iiiiiii 


Atlantic  Coast  of  North  America  7 

years  later,  Charles  V,  grandson  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  king 
of  Spain  and  ruler  of  the  Netherlands,  became  also  German 
emperor,  and  thus  brought  Spain  into  the  heart  of  European 
politics.  Spain  built  a  powerful  navy,  and  organized  an  infantry 
that  could  defeat  knights  in  armor  and  was  almost  invincible  by 
other  footmen ;  and  for  many  years  she  was  the  strongest  state 
in  Europe. 

Germany,  England,  and  France  in  this  period  were  wearing 
themselves  out  with  civil  wars  and  other  wars,  and  had  little 
energy  left  for  voyages  of  discovery.  Italy  was  broken  up  into 
several  .states,  but  furnished  the  best  and  boldest  sailors  of  that 
period. 

5.   ATLANTIC  COAST  or  NORTH  AMERICA 

The  Europeans  of  the  fifteenth  century  thought  of  the  world 
as  consisting  of  only  three  parts :  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 
After  the  discovery  of  America,  as  described  in  the  next  chapter, 
it  required  a  generation  of  explorers  to  approach  the  truth  that 
North  America  is  not  part  of  Asia,  and  more  than  a  century 
passed  before  men  generally  began  to  think  of  the  western 
hemisphere  in  its  true  relations  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  The 
course  of  American  discovery  and  colonization  was  much  affected 
by  the  physical  character  of  the  'land ;  therefore,  the  nature 
of  the  country  is  one  of  the  essentials  of  American  history. 

The  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America  abounds  in  deep  and 
sheltered  harbors,  which  helped  the  early  settlers  in  their  sea- 
faring. The  coast  is  bold  and  rugged  as  far  south  as  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  and  the  country  inland  is  hilly  and  stony,  and 
abounds  in  waterfalls.  South  of  the  Hudson,  a  low  coast  plain 
gradually  widens  till  it  reaches  Georgia,  and  thence  stretches 
westward  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Texas.  Its  sandy  coast 
is  fringed  with  shallow  lagoons,  separated  from  the  open  sea  by 
long,  narrow  islands. 

Up  to  the  foothills  of  the  Appalachians  this  southern  country 
is  flat  and  fertile  and  well  adapted  to  agriculture.  The  sluggish 
rivers  are  generally  navigable  from  the  coast  to  the  "Fall  Line," 


8  Foundations  of  American  History 

where  abundant  water  power  has  aided  the  growth  of  a  series 
of  towns  and  cities,  such  as  Trenton,  Richmond,  Petersburg, 
Raleigh,  Columbia,  Augusta,  and  Macon.  The  flatness  of  the 
Atlantic  coast  gave  rise  to  one  disadvantage :  innumerable 
swamps  and  fresh-water  ponds  bred  mosquitoes.  When  our 
forefathers  sickened  with  fevers,  they  little  guessed  that  it  was 
this  insignificant  enemy  which  brought  disease,  death,  and  often 
ruin  to  a  colony. 

On  the  west,  the  Atlantic  lowland  is  shut  in  by  the  Appalach- 
ian Mountain  system,  which  extends  in  a  belt  about  a  hundred 
miles  .wide  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  1600  miles  southwest- 
ward  to  northern  Alabama.  On  the  western  side  of  these 
mountains  is  an  upland  plateau  which  declines  gradually  to  the 
west  and  is  deeply  trenched  by  the  steep-sided  valleys  of  the 
streams.  Like  the  lower  coast  lands,  this  whole  highland  region 
was  originally  clothed  with  forests  which  concealed  the  lurking 
savage. 

6.   INTERIOR  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 

The  west  slope  of  the  Appalachian  plateau  merges  into  a  vast 
low  plain,  which  is  drained  partly  northeastward  to  Hudson 
Bay,  partly  eastward  through  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  but  chiefly  southward  through  the  Mississippi 
River  system.  A  northern  belt,  as  far  west  as  the  upper 
Mississippi,  and  a  southern  belt,  as  far  as  the  Ozark  Plateau, 
were  originally  forest-covered ;  but  the  central  part  from  Indiana 
westward  was  made  up  of  broad  grassy  prairies,  treeless  except 
for  narrow  fringes  of  timber  along  the  watercourses. 

The  St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi  valleys  make  up  the  most 
extensive  tract  of  highly  fertile  land  in  the  world.  Most  of  it  has 
abundant  rainfall.  "When  tickled  with  a  hoe,  it  laughs  with 
a  harvest"  ;  and  it  has  almost  every  variety  of  soil  and  product. 
The  numerous  streams  furnish  alluvial  "bottom  land."  North 
of  the  Missouri  and  Ohio  rivers  most  of  the  country  is  covered 
with  glacial  deposits,  making  nature's  wheat  fields ;  and  the  vast 
prairies  grow  all  kinds  of  crops,  especially  corn. 


Pacific  Coast  of  Our  Country  9 

About  500  miles  beyond  the  Mississippi  River  the  land  rises 
gradually  into  a  treeless  plateau,  which  is  called  the  Great 
Plains  and  is  so  dry  that  not  much  farming  is  possible  without 
irrigation.  The  "bunch  grass"  of  these  plains  once  supported 
countless  herds  of  wild  bison,  and  now  is  the  pasturage  for  beef 
cattle. 

Beyond  the  plains  is  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain,  with  a  general 
elevation  of  about  10,000  feet.  These  lofty  and  complicated 
ranges  occupy  a  belt  of  country  from  200  to  300  miles  wide,  made 
up  of  mountains  extremely  rough  and  steep.  Their  summits 
reach  to  nearly  15,000  feet,  though  the  chain  may  be  crossed 
at  elevations  not  greater  than  from  6000  to  8000  feet.  West 
of  the  mountains  are  broad,  rugged  plateaus.  In  these  moun- 
tains and  uplands  the  Indians  found  large  game  for  food,  and 
small  fur-bearing  animals.  From  the  sheep  that  now  range 
the  region  the  white  man  still 
draws  material  for  clothing ; 
while  in  the  upheaved  and 
dislocated  strata  he  finds  our 
richest  stores  of  gold,  silver, 
copper,  and  lead. 

7.   PACIFIC    COAST    OF    OUR 
COUNTRY 

Farther  west,  rises  the  steep 
escarpment  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  Cascade  chains, 
which  sink  away  again  in  a 
long  western  slope,  abundantly 
watered  in  winter  by  moist 
winds  from  the  Pacific,  that 
clothe  it  with  thick  forests  of 
valuable  trees.  These  chains 
are  scarcely  more  than  seventy- 
five  miles  wide,  but  they 


BIG  TREES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


io  Foundations  of  American  History 

rival  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  height  and  ruggedness.  West 
of  the  crest  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  systems,  and 
beyond  a  series  of  long  lowland  valleys,  stand  the  low  Coast 
Ranges,  'which  rise  steeply  from  the  Pacific  Ocean.  These 
ranges  are  broken  down  to  the  sea  at  three  places  only:  the 
bay  of  San  Francisco,  the  Columbia  River,  and  the  Strait  of 
Juan  de  Fuca,  which  leads  to  Puget  Sound.  The  climate  is 
much  the  same  all  along  the  western  coast  —  warm,  dry 
summers  and  mild  winters,  which  have  made  it  a  resort  for 
travelers  and  health  seekers. 

8.  ROUTES  or  TRADE  AND  TRAVEL 

Through  the  forests  and  across  the  mountains  ran  two  systems 
of  primeval  routes  of  travel :  footpaths  and  waterways. 
(r)  Throughout  the  continent,  buffalo  paths  and  Indian  trails, 
sometimes  only  six  inches  wide,  led  through  prairie  and  forest ; 
they  often  followed  the  divides  between  the  valleys,  because 
they  were  free  from  crossings  of  streams.  (2)  A  network  of 
water  routes  was  made  by  rivers  and  lakes,  on  which  plied  the 
dugout  and,  in  the  north,  the  Indian  birch-bark  canoe,  which 
was  one  of  the  best  inventions  of  any  savage  race;  it  was  easy 
to  make,  swift  to  paddle,  and  light  to  "tote"  over  a  carry 
from  one  system  of  rivers  to  another. 

For  long  journeys  to  the  west  the  Atlantic  streams  could 
be  followed  up  to  the  divides  separating  them  from  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Great  Lakes  or  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  routes 
across  the  Appalachian  chain  ran  for  the  most  part  on  the  same 
lines  as  the  present  trunk-line  railroads,  especially  through 
the  gaps  at  the  heads  of  the  Mohawk,  Susquehanna,  Potomac, 
and  James  rivers.  By  carries  or  portages  known  to  the  Indians, 
one  could  also  pass  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  Hudson  Bay,  or 
to  the  upper  Mississippi,  or  to  the  Ohio.  Examples  of  such 
transfer  points  are  Ravenna,  Ohio,  between  the  Cuyahoga  and 
Mahoning  rivers ;  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  between  the  Maumee 
and  the  Wabash;  and  Chicago,  between  Lake  Michigan  and 


American  Products 


it 


IMPORTANT  INDIAN  PORTAGF.S. 

the  Des  Plaines  branch  of  the  Illinois.  At  such  places  white 
men's  towns  eventually  grew  up.  Indians  rarely  crossed  from 
the  east  to  the  Pacific  drainage,  though  the  passes  were  known 
to  the  natives. 

9.  AMERICAN  PRODUCTS 

The  whole  land  originally  abounded  in  wild  animals.  The 
deer  and  the  bison,  commonly  called  buffalo,  furnished  meat 
for  the  hungry,  clothing  for  the  cold,  and  a  roof  for  the  family ; 
the  game  birds,  of  which  the  turkey  and  the  pigeon  were  the  most 
plentiful,  increased  the  food  supply ;  and  the  coast  waters  and 
streams  abounded  in  fish  and  in  fur-bearing  animals.  The 
earth  furnished  the  savage  with  berries  and  other  fruits,  corn, 
beans,  pumpkins,  squashes,  and  maple  sugar  for  his  diet ;  tobacco 
for  his  luxury ;  herbs  and  simples  for  diseases  and  wounds ;  wood 
for  his  hut  and  his  fire. 


Foundations  of  American  History 


INTERIOR  OF  A  ZCNI  PUEBLO.     (About  the  same  size  as  in  1492.) 

The  colonists  found  valuable  resources  in  the  timber  and 
the  iron  ores;  their  descendants  discovered  coal  and  oil,  and 
copper,  lead,  zinc,  and  the  precious  metals ;  but  almost  the  only 
things  the  Indian  had  to  sell  that  the  white  man  coveted  were 
deerskins  and  furs,  especially  that  of  the  beaver.  Still  Amer- 
ica yielded  three  products  not  then  known  to  the  Old  World : 
(i)  Corn  was  the  plant  most  widely  sown  and  harvested  by 
the  Indians;  the  colonists  quickly  found  .it  to  be  "a  grain  of 
general  use  to  man  and  beast."  (2)  The  potato,  native  of  South 
America,  in  the  course  of  time  became  the  chief  food  of  millions 
of  Europeans.  (3)  Tobacco,  everywhere  much  prized  by  the 
Indians,  grew  wild  or  was  rudely  cultivated. 

10.  NATIVE  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA 

The  native  inhabitants  of  America,  called  Indians  by  Colum- 
bus because  he  supposed  he  had  reached  the  Indian  coast  of 
Asia,  were  almost  all  of  one  great  race,  though  their  origin 
is  a  puzzle  for  scientists.  Throughout  central  North  America 
exist  a  great  number  of  mounds,  some  of  which  are  graves,  some 


Native  Civilization  in  America  13 

village  sites,  some  defenses,  some  the  outlines  of  animals; 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  "mound  builders" 
were  different  from  the  ordinary  Indians. 

From  Georgia  to  Arizona,  most  Indian  tribes  raised  plenty  of 
food  and  lived  in  fixed  towns,  some  southwestern  peoples  in 
cliff  dwellings.  The  descendants  of  some  of  these  tribes,  as  for 
instance  the  Zufiis,  still  live  in  the  same  communal  villages  or 
pueblos,  and  carry  on  much  the  same  life  as  their  forefathers. 

Farther  south,  in  the  communal  city  of  Mexico,  were  the 
Aztecs,  men  of  war  who  lived  on  tribute  or  plunder  from  neigh- 
boring tribes,  and  reveled  in  human  sacrifice ;  they  had  the  arts 
of  making  pottery,  of  working  in  soft  metals,  of  weaving  and 
feather  work,  and  even  of  a  kind  of  picture  writing.  In  Mexico 
and  Central  America  ruined  stone  cities  mark  a  higher  civili- 
zation, already  decaying  when  the  white  man  came.  These 
abound  in  elaborately  carved  stone  walls,  stairways,  and  monu- 
ments, strangely  like  certain  temples  and  idols  in  eastern  Asia. 
In  South  America  native  civilization  reached  its  highest  point 
in  the  empire  of  the  Incas  in  Peru, 
who  had  an  organization  far  above 
that  of  the  ordinary  Indians;  for 
they  built  roads  and  stone  towns, 
trained  llamas  for  beasts  of  burden, 
and  used  a  system  of  records  made 
by  knotted  cords. 

The  Indians  who  most  disturbed 
the  English  colonists  were  three 
groups :  (i)  along  the  northern  At- 
lantic coast,  the  Algonquin  family ; 
(2)  inland,  between  the  Hudson 
and  Lake  Erie,  the  "Five  Nations" 
of  Iroquois ;  '(3)  between  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  southeast  coast 
the  powerful  Cherokees,  kin  to  the  ANCIENT  PERWIAN  JAR. 
Iroquois,  and  the  Muskogee  family,  (Perhaps  a  portrait.) 

HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  2 


14  Foundations  of  American  History 

including  the  intelligent,  numerous,  and  warlike  tribes  of 
Choctaws,  Creeks,  and  Chickasaws.  All  these  Indians  were 
vigorous  and  hardy  people,  well  built,  tall,  and  handsome. 
Their  clothing  was  chiefly  of  deerskins,  supplemented  after  the 
whites  came  by  the  "match-coat,"  or  blanket.  They  gathered 
into  villages,  living  for  the  most  part  in  wigwams  of  bark  or 
skins;  though  some  tribes  had  "long  houses"  —  rows  of  con- 
tinuous wooden  dwellings. 

The  main  occupations  of  these  Indians  were  fishing  and  hunt- 
ing and  fighting,  but  nearly  all  had  cornfields,  and  some  of  them 
plots  of  tobacco  and  vegetables,  all  tilled  by  the  women.  The 
Indians  were  fond  of  gayety,  lively  conversation,  dancing,  and 
open-air  games.  They  knew  no  real  religion ;  early,  discoverers 
said  that  they  worshiped  stones  and  the  devil.  Their  priests 
were  medicine  men  who  sang,  shook  their  rattles,  and  circled 
about  the  fire  ten  or  twelve  hours  together,  "with  most  im- 
petuous and  in  terminate  clamours  and  howling."  In  many 
ways  the  Indians  showed  remarkable  inventive  skill.  They 
strung  bows,  fashioned  stone  arrowheads,  clubs,  and  hatchets, 
contrived  snowshoes,  made  rude  pottery,  tanned  skins,  executed 
beautiful  designs  in  beads  and  porcupine  quills,  manufactured 
maple  sugar,  plaited  nets,  carved  pipes,  wove  baskets,  painted 
pictographs  on  skins  and  rocks,  had  a  currency  of  wampum 
made  from  seashells,  and  invented  the  serviceable  bark  canoe. 

ii.   INDIAN  WARFARE  AND  GOVERNMENT 

In  war  the  Indians  were  among  the  fiercest  fighting  men  of 
all  history.  Their  weapons  were  the  bow  and  arrow,  club,  toma- 
hawk, and  stone  knife ;  and  they  quickly  adopted  the  white 
man's  muskets,  axes,  and  knives.  Swift  and  silent  in  move- 
ment, they  chose  to  attack  by  surprise ;  if  once  beaten  back, 
they  were  likely  to  give  up  and  go  home  for  the  time,  rather 
than  lose  more  men.  Their  custom  of  killing  or  enslaving  men, 
women,  and  children  alike,  was  too  often  imitated  by  their 
white  enemies,  who  also  learned  how  to  take  the  scalps  of  their 


Indian  Warfare  and  Government 


>5 


savage  adversaries.     The  narratives  of  while  captives  are  lilled 
with  accounts  of  fearful  tortures. 

Fortunately  for  the  whites,  the  Indians  were  broken  up  into 
small  political  fragments.  The  so-called  "tribes,"  often  in- 
cluding many  villages,  were  united  by  the  loosest  of  ties ;  they 
fought  among  themselves.  The  fundamental  idea  of  the  Indian 
was  that  every  member  of  every  other  tribe,  unless  bound  by 


INDIAN  WAMPUM  BELTS, 


friendly  treaty,  was  his  enemy ;  and  he  looked  on  all  white 
men  as  members  of  one  hostile  tribe.  Indeed,  the  whole 
Indian  conception  of  government  and  society  was  different 
from  that  of  the  white  man.  The  tribes  were  subdivided  into 
clans  or  "totems,"  and  families;  and  the  tribal  councils  were 
mere  "powwows,"  for  the  decision  bound  nobody;  yet  dis- 
cussion and  decision  were  backed  up  by  a  powerful  public 
opinion.  The  tribal  lands  were  usually  only  the  territory  over 
which  the  tribe  habitually  ranged  ;  nobody  "owned"  land  in  the 
English  sense  of  absolute  property  which  could  be  transferred 
to  another  person. 

The  Indians  were  often  friendly,  gave  food,  furnished  guides, 
and  fought  on  the  white  men's  side  against  other  tribes ;  but 
their  chiefs  had  no  recognized  power  to  compel  obedience,  and 


1 6  Foundations  of  American  History 

hence  treaties  with  the  English  were  always  hard  to  enforce. 
Few  Indians  have  come  down  in  history  as  leaders  of  their 
people.  Wahunsonacock,  commonly  called  Powhatan  by  the 
Virginians,  King  Philip  in  New  England,  Pontiac  and  Corn 
Planter  in  the  West,  George  Guess  who  invented  a  Cherokee 
alphabet,  and  later  Tecumseh,  Chief  Joseph,  and  Geronimo 
the  Apache,  are  almost  the  only  great  names. 

12.   REVIEW 

Early  American  history  was  simply  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  nations  of  Europe  that  made  discoveries  and  planted  colonies 
in  the  western  hemisphere.  They  were  aroused  by  that  intellec- 
tual movement  which  we  call  the  Renaissance,  one  phase  of 
which  was  greater  interest  in  seafaring.  The  interruption  of 
trade  with  central  Asia,  caused  by  the  invasion  of  the  Turks, 
was  an  additional  reason  for  trying  to  reach  India  by  a  new  sea 
route. 

Although  the  Europeans  were  not  aware  of  it  until  some  years 
later,  the  Atlantic  coast  of  our  country  abounds  in  broad  rivers 
and  good  harbors.  From  the  water  line  the  land  rises  to  the 
summit  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains  and  then  descends  to 
the  fertile  St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi  river  basins.  West- 
ward the  land  again  rises  until  it  reaches  the  high  Rockies,  and 
the  great  upland  beyond;  and  beyond  the  Sierra  Nevada  it 
slopes  down  to  the  Pacific  coast.  Easy  divides  and  passes  con- 
nect the  various  parts  of  the  country  with  one  another. 

A  good  share  of  this  broad  land  abounded  in  animal  life,  fur- 
nishing food  and  clothing  to  the  natives.  The  Indians  also  had 
corn,  potatoes,  and  tobacco,  none  of  which  were  then  known  in 
Europe.  Most  of  the  tribes  were  still  in  the  savage  stage  of 
civilization,  though  many  of  them  lived  in  villages,  and  the 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians  built  stone  cities  and  temples.  The 
Indians  provided  themselves  with  tools  and  utensils.  They 
were  excellent  warriors,  but  never  understood  how  to  unite 
in  strong  and  numerous  communities. 


References  and  Topics  17 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  3,  5,  6,  n.  —  Avery,  U.S.,  I. 
—  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  4,  5,  10,  18,  78.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  front., 
3.  —  Epoch  Maps,  no.  i.  —  Farrand,  Basis  of  Am.  Hist.  —  Shepherd, 
Hist.  Atlas,  187,  188. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  ch.  i.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  1-17.  — 
Cheyney,  Europ.  Background.  —  Farrand,  Basis  of  Am.  Hist.  —  Fiske, 
Discov.  of  Am.,  I.  1-147,  256-334,  II.  294-364. — Hodge,  Handbook 
of  Am.  Indians.  —  Morgan,  Am.  Aborigines.  —  Powell,  Physiographic 
Regions.  —  Shaler,  Nature  and  Man  in  Am.,  166-283.  —  Winsor,  Amer- 
ica, IV.  i-xxx. 

Sources.  Hart,  Source  Book,  §  9;  Source  Readers,  I.  §§  8,  19-33, 
37-44,  III.  §§  57-69.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  30,  32.  —  See  also  New 
Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  65;  Syllabus,  167-168,  293. 

Illustrative.  Leland,  Algonquin  Legends  of  New  Engl.  —  Longfellow, 
Hiau'atha.  —  Lummis,  Strange  Corners  of  Our  Country.  —  Whittier, 
Bridal  of  Pennacook. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  I.  —  Catlin,  North  Am.  Indians.  —  Mc- 
Kenney  and  Hall,  Hist,  and  Biography  of  the  Indian  Tribes.  —  Mentor, 
serial  nos.  7,  34,  60,  83,  92,  113,  116.  —  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
Reports.  —  Winsor,  America,  I. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  When  and  how  was  gunpowder  first  used  in  Europe?  [§  2]  — 
(2)  What  were  the  first  books  printed  in  America?  [§  2]  —  (3)  How 
did  the  mariner's  compass  come  into  use  in  Europe?  [§  2]  —  (4)  What 
five  harbors  of  North  America  were  first  located  by  Europeans?  [§  5]  — 

(5)  What  are  the  best   passes  across  the  Rocky  Mountains?    [§  6]  — 

(6)  What  were  the  best  waterways  (with  portages)  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Mississippi?  [§  8]  —  (7)  Indian  mounds.  [§  10]  —  (8)  The  Indian 
totem  system.  [§  n] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(9)  Adventures  of  Marco  Polo.  [§  3]  —  (10)  Was  there  ever  a  Sir 
John  Mandeville?  [§  3]  —  (n)  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator.  [§  4]  — 

(12)  Introduction  of  corn,  potatoes,  and  tobacco  into  Europe.  [§  9]  — 

(13)  Indian  remains  in  your  neighborhood.    [§  10]  —  (14)  Ancient  build- 
ings and  monuments  in    Mexico   and    Central   America.    [§  10]  —  (15) 
Peruvian   roads   and    buildings.   [§  10]  —  (16)    Account   of   one   of  the 
Indians  mentioned  in  §  n. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE   CENTURY   OF   DISCOVERY    (1492-1604) 
13.     FORERUNNINGS    OF   DISCOVERY    (1000-1492) 

UNTIL  about  1500,  the  existence  of  any  western  continent 
was  undreamed  of  in  Europe,  although  in  far-off  Iceland  there 

were  records  of  a 
"saga,"  or  memorized 
tradition,  telling  how 
Leif  Ericson  — ' '  Leif 
the  Lucky  " —  reached 
the  mainland,  far 
south  of  Greenland, 
in  the  year  1000. 
Another  saga  tells  that 
in  1007  one  Karlsefni 
landed  there  in  a  fine 
country,  which  has 
never  been  identified, 
abounding  in  flat 
stones  and  "wineber- 
ries"  and  fierce  na- 
tives. No  evidence 
has  ever ,  been  found 
to  show  that  Leif's 
discovery  of  North 
America  was  known 
to  Italian  or  Spanish 
navigators.  Their  incentive  to  western  voyages  was  the  hope  of 
finding  a  direct  western  route  to  India,  especially  after  Barthol- 
omew Diaz  of  Portugal  reached  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (1487) 
18 


LEIF  ERICSOX'S  SHIP. 


Columbus  the  Discoverer  19 

and  saw  a  broad  sea  beyond,  on  which  ships  could  undoubtedly 
sail  to  Asia,  though  by  a  long  and  roundabout  route. 

To  Christopher  Columbus,  born  (about  1451)  in  the  Italian 
city  of  Genoa,  is  due  the  credit  of  applying  the  science  of  his 
lime  to  this  problem  of  reaching  India.  Before  he  was  thirty 
years  old  he  formed  a  plan  of  sailing  westward  to  Asia,  which 
he  calculated  to  be  not  far  from  2500  miles  distant  from 
Europe.  Directly,  or  through  his  brother  Bartholomew,  he 
appealed  to  the  kings  of  Portugal,  Spain,  England,  and  France 
to  fit  him  out ;  and  all  declined  the  splendid  opportunity. 
Finally,  he  turned  again  to  Spain  and  appealed  to  the  zeal  of 
Queen  Isabella  in  behalf  of  the  distant  heathen,  and  aroused 
her  counselors  by  depicting  rich  results  of  conquest  and  power. 
Isabella  at  last  agreed  to  fit  out  an  expedition  in  behalf  of  her 
kingdom  of  Castile. 

14.   COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER  (1492-1502) 

Furnished  with  the  queen's  money,  Columbus  got  together 
three  little  ships  called  caravels,  the  Santa  Maria,  Nina,  and 
Piula,  carrying  90  men  in  all.  He  sailed  from  Palos  early  in 
August,  1492,  and  from  the  Canary  Islands  five  weeks  later; 
thenceforward  his  sole  reliance  was  his  own  unconquerable  will. 
When  the  crews  threatened  to  mutiny  unless  he  would  turn  back, 
he  pleaded  and  threatened  and  even  deceived  them  by  under- 
estimating the  ship's  daily  run. 

On  Friday,  October  12,  1492  (October  21  of  our  calendar), 
thirty-three  days  after  losing  sight  of  land,  and  then  distant 
3230  nautical  miles  from  Palos,  the  caravels  came  upon  an 
island,  to  which,  says  Columbus,  "I  gave  the  name  of  San  Sal- 
vadore,  in  commemoration  of  his  Divine  Majesty  who  has 
wonderfully  granted  all  this.  The  Indians  call  it  Guanahani." 
This  landfall  was  probably  Watling  Island  of  the  Bahama 
group.  A  few  days  later  Columbus  reached  the  coast  of  Cuba, 
and  then  Hispaniola,  now  Haiti.  He  was  deeply  disappointed 
not  to  find  towns  and  civilized  communities,  for  to  the  day  of 


1  Columbus's  First  Voyage  1492 
8          "         Second      "       U93-96 

3  Cabots  1497-98 

4  Vespucius  for  Spain  1499 

6  Columbus's  Third  Voyage  1498-00 

6  Cabral  1600 

7  Vespucius  for  Portugal  1501-02 

8  Columbus's  Fourth  Voyage  150WV 

9  Pineda  1519 
Magellan  1519-22 

11  Verrazano  1524 

12  Cartier's  First  Voyage  1534-35 

13  «      Second     "       1535-36 


WEST  INDIES 


English  and  Portuguese  Discoveries  21 

his  death  he  supposed  that  he  had  hit  on  the  coast  of  Asia. 
Thus  was  America  discovered  accidentally  in  the  voyage  of  one 
of  the  most  extraordinary  men  in  history. 

On  a  second  and  a  third  voyage  (1493,  1498)  Columbus  dis- 
covered Porto  Rico,  Jamaica,  some  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  and 


DEPARTURE  OF  COLUMBUS.     (From  De  Bry's  Voyages,  1590.) 

the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco.  He  founded  a  colony  in  Hispaniola, 
including  the  city  of  Santo  Domingo,  but  was  sent  home  in 
chains  and  for  a  time  was  in  disgrace.  He  made,  however,  a 
fourth  voyage  (1502),  in  search  of  a  water  passage  to  India, 
which  carried  him  to  the  coast  of  Honduras  and  to  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama.  Four  years  later  he  died  in  Spain. 

15.   ENGLISH  AND  PORTUGUESE  DISCOVERIES  (1493-1507) 

The  announcement  that  Columbus  had  reached  Asia  aroused 
new  national  rivalries,  and  it  was  followed  by  many  western 


22  The  Century  of  Discovery 

voyages.  Henry  VII,  king  of  England,  gave  authority  to  the 
Venetian  navigator  John  Cabot  and  his  three  sons  "to  sail  to 
all  parts,  regions,  and  waters  of  the  eastern,  western,  and  south- 
ern seas,  and  to  discover  any  heathen  regions  which  up  to  this 
time  have  remained  unknown  to  Christians."  Though  this 
voyage  later  became  the  basis  of  the  English  claims  to  North 
America,  we  know  only  that  Cabot  came  back  in  1497  and 
reported  "that  700  leagues  hence  he  discovered  land,  the  terri- 
tory of  the  grand  Chan.  He  coasted  for  300  leagues  and 
landed  and  found  two  very  large  and  fertile  new  islands." 
His  landfall  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  island  of  Cape  Breton. 
The  next  year  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian  are  supposed  to  have 
made  a  voyage  farther  south ;  but  of  their  discoveries,  if  they 
made  any,  we  have  no  contemporary  accounts. 

Meantime  the  Portuguese  were  trying  to  reach  India  by  sail- 
ing eastward  around  Africa,  and  they  claimed  a  monopoly  of 
the  discoveries  that  they  might  make.  In  May,  1493,  the  Pope 
issued  a  bull  in  which  he  undertook  to  divide  the  new  non- 
Christian  world  between  Portugal  and  Spain,  by  a  north  and 
south  line  through  the  Atlantic.  A  year  later,  in  the  treaty  of 
Tordesillas,  made  directly  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  "line  of  demarcation"  should  run  "from  pole 
to  pole,  370  leagues  west  from  the  Cape  Verde  Islands."  The 
need  of  such  a  treaty  was  realized  in  1497,  when  the  Portuguese 
Vasco  da  Gama  passed  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  shortly 
reached  India.  Then  Cabral,  one  of  the  Portuguese  voyagers 
to  India,  hit  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  (1500),  which  he  thought 
was  an  Asiatic  island.  Thus  America  would  have  been  dis- 
covered without  Columbus.  Later  it  was  found  that  the  line 
of  Tordesillas  ran  to  the  west  of  the  Brazilian  coast,  which  was 
therefore  left  to  the  Portuguese  to  settle. 

The  Italian  Americus  Vespucius,  of  Venice,  coasted  large 
parts  of  South  America  from  1499  to  1507  in  behalf  of  Spain  and 
then  of  Portugal.  He  published  several  letters  describing  his 
discoveries  and,  apparently  without  any  such  expectation,  fur- 


Spanish  Discoveries  and  Conquests  23 

nished  a  name  which  gradually  supplanted  the  term  "New 
World"  used  by  Columbus  and  others.  An  Alsatian  geog- 
rapher, Hylacomyius,  realizing  that  a  new  continent  had  been 
discovered,  suggested  in  1507  that  the  new  fourth  part  of  the 
world  be  called  "Amerige;  that  is,  the  land  of  Americus,  or 
America."  This  name,  originally  applied  to  the  eastern  part 
of  South  America,  was  gradually  extended  to  all  of  South 
America,  and  then  to  the  entire  New  World. 

16.    SPANISH  DISCOVERIES  AND  CONQUESTS,  TO  1532 

By  the  year  1513  most  of  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and 
the  coast  from  Mexico  to  the  Plata,  had  been  visited ;   so  that 
the     Spaniards    1_^____________ —«•—=»—, 

began  to  real- 
ize that  wher- 
e ver  they 
sailed  far 
enough  west, 
they  struck 
land,  perhaps 
a  continuous 
continent.  In 
that  year  Bal- 
boa crossed 
the  narrow 
isthmus  of 
Darien  or 
Panama,  and 
looked  upon 
the  Pacific 

Ocean.  Since  the  Spaniards  could  not  penetrate  directly  west- 
ward, they  sent  Magellan  in  1519  with  a  small  fleet  to  coast 
along  America  southward.  He  discovered  and  passed  through 
the  strait  to  which  he  gave  his  name,  entered  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  then  sailed  up  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  and 


Shaded  area  from 


SUPPOSED  LIMITS  OF  AMERICA  (1530),  COMPARED 
WITH  THE  ACTUAL  OUTLINES. 


24  The  Century  of  Discovery 

thence  westward  until  he  reached  the  Ladrones  and  the  Philip- 
pine Islands.  Magellan  was  killed  in  a  fight  with  the  natives, 
but  one  of  his  vessels  got  home  to  Spain  via  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  —  the  first  circumnavigation  of  the  globe.  At  last  the 
true  Indies  had  been  reached  by  sailing  west,  and  the  Philip- 
pines speedily  became  a  Spanish  colony,  regularly  communicat- 
ing with  the  home  country  across  Mexico. 

Meanwhile  the  Spanish  were  pushing  exploration  and  con- 
quest within  the  continents,  beginning  with  a  fruitless  ex- 
pedition by  Ponce  de  Leon  in  Florida  (1513),  and  a  voyage  by 
Pineda,  who  was  the  first  to  skirt  the  north  coast  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  (1519).  The  first  permanent  settlement  on  the  main- 
land w,as  the  result  of  the  romantic  occupation  of  Mexico  by 
Hernando  Cortes  in  1519.  With  550  men  and  16  horses  he 
marched  into  the  country  and  took  the  fortified  city  of  Mexico, 
smashed  the  rude  political  organization  of  the  Aztecs,  and  set 
up  the  Catholic  religion;  and  in  1521  he  founded  the  province 
of  Mexico.  In  1532  a  Spanish  force  of  200  men  and  60  horses, 
under  Francisco  Pizarro,  penetrated  and  conquered  Peru,  and 
looted  a  large  quantity  of  gold ;  here  also  the  native  government 
was  overthrown  and  a  permanent  Spanish  colonial  government 
under  a  viceroy  was  set  up. 

17.   SPANISH   EXPLORATIONS   OF   THE    COAST   AND   INTERIOR 

(1526-1592) 

Except  for  these  two  conquests  the  interior  of  the  two  Amer- 
ican continents  had  hardly  been  touched  by  Europeans.  The 
Spaniards  now  began  to  send  exploring  expeditions  to  and  into 
the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  the  United  States :  (i)  De 
Ayllon  attempted  to  found  a  colony  on  Chesapeake  Bay  (1526) 
and  thus  founded  a  claim  to  what  later  became  Virginia.  (2) 
Narvaez  with  a  party  explored  the  land  north  of  the  Gulf  coast, 
and  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  probably  the  first  white 
man  to  see  any  part  of  that  river  (1528).  (3)  Hernando  De 


Spanish  Explorations  of  the  Coast  and  Interior     25 

Soto,  with  a  force  of  620  men,  marched  inland  from  the  coast 
of  Florida;  and  in  1541  reached  the  Mississippi  and  explored 
part  of  the  present  state  of  Arkansas.  (4)  In  1540  Coronado, 
incited  by  tales  of  seven  rich  and  wonderful  "cities  of  Cibola," 
went  northward  from  Mexico,  but  found  the  cities  to  be  only 
Indian  pueblos,  of  which  some  are  still  standing.  He  pen- 
etrated to  the  country  of  Quivira  (Kansas),  which  abounded  in 
"crook-backed  cows"  (buffaloes).  (5)  From  1533  to  1592  the 
Pacific  coast  was  visited  by  Spaniards  as  far  north  as  the  Strait 


SPANISH  EXPLORATIONS  IN  THE  INTERIOR  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 


of  Juan  de  Fuca ;  the  exploration  gave  them  title  .to  California 
and  Lower  California. 

The  West  Indies,  as  the  Spanish  possessions  in  the  islands 
and  the  continent  of  the  New  World  were  generally  called, 
made  the  Spanish  kingdom  for  a  time  the  richest  of  all  European 
countries,  and  enabled  the  Spaniards  for  a  century  to  take  the 
leading  place  in  Europe.  The  accumulated  gold  of  Mexico 
and  Peru  was  quickly  swept  up;  but  in  1545  the  rich  silver 
mines  of  Potosi,  in  Peru,  were  opened,  and  later  good  silver 
mines  were  found  in  Mexico.  By  1550  Spanish  colonies  were 
established  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  on  the  west  and 
north  coasts  of  South  America,  and  on  the  lower  Plata. 


26  The  Century  of  Discovery 

18.   FRENCH  DISCOVERIES  (1524-1565) 

Meanwhile,  about  twenty  years  after  Columbus's  first  voy- 
age, a  mighty  change  was  begun  in  Europe  through  the  Prot- 
estant Reformation.  Up  to  this  time,  every  nation  in  western 
Europe  was  Roman  Catholic.  A  new  faith  appeared  in  Ger- 
many and  spread  to  France,  Italy,  England,  Scotland,  Hun- 
gary, and  the  Scandinavian  countries.  In  the  end,  the  peoples 
of  northwestern  Europe  became  mostly  Protestant,  while  those 
of  the  south  remained  Catholic. 

France,  though  mainly  Catholic,  ignored  the  papal  division 
of  1493  (§  15).  In  1524,  King  Francis  I  dispatched  the  Italian 
Verrazano,  of  Florence,  with  a  fleet  which  crossed  the  Atlantic 
and  explored  an  unknown  coast  including  what  is  now  New 
York  Harbor,  a  bay,  he  said,  in  "a  very  pleasant  situation 
among  some  steep  hills,  through  which  a  very  large  river,  deep 
at  its  mouth,  forced  its  way  to  the  sea."  Much  farther  north 
the  French  captain  Jacques  Cartier  explored  the  coast,  found 
islands  and  a  river  (1534),  and  the  next  year  "a  goodly  great 
gulf,  full  of  islands,  passages,  and  entrances,"  which  he  named 
St.  Lawrence;  thence  he  entered  "the  great  river  Hochelaga 
and  ready  way  to  China."  His  progress  was  stopped  by  the 
rapids  later  dubbed  Lachine  ("Chinese"),  near  a  hill  which 
he  called  Mount  Royal,  now  Montreal. 

A  body  of  "Huguenots,"  or  French  Protestants,  with  the 
consent  of  the  Catholic  king,  planted  a  colony  under  Jean 
Ribault  at  Port  Royal,  now  in  South  Carolina  (1562) ;  but 
it  failed.  The  French  returned  and  built  a  second  Port  Royal 
on  the  "River  May"  (St.  Johns)  in  Florida.  This  was  a  flat 
defiance  of  the  Spaniards,  who  founded  (1565)  the  frontier  town 
of  St.  Augustine  to  confront  the  French ;  this  town,  still  in 
existence,  is  the  oldest  within  the  mainland  boundaries  of  the 
United  States.  Menendez,  the  Spanish  governor,  uprooted  the 
French  colony ;  and  the  French  never  regained  the  opportunity 
of  settling  the  southern  Atlantic  coast. 


English  Traders  and  Freebooters  27 

19.   ENGLISH  TRADERS  AND  FREEBOOTERS   (1566-1580) 

Spain's  monopoly  of  American  trade  and  colonization  aroused 
the  spirit  of  the  English,  especially  when,  under  Philip  II 
(1556-1598),  Spain  became  the  leading  Catholic  power  of 


Si  I.C.RAVK  MANOR,  ENGLAND. 

(Kurly  home  of  the  Washington 
family.) 


Europe.  Internal  troubles  arose  out  of  the  Reformation  in 
England,  but  diminished  in  the  reign  of  the  Protestant  Queen 
Elizabeth ;  and  English  merchants  began  to  -  plan  voyages 
and  colonies  both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  In  despite  of 
Spain  a  charter  was  granted  in  1566  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert 
to  open  a  northwest  passage  around  America  to  India,  and  to 
discover  new  lands,  which  were  to  be  an  English  colony.  Sev- 
eral later  explorers  made  voyages  on  the  same  quest,,  penetrating 
as  far  as  Hudson  Strait  and  Bay.  T^ 

One  of  the  boldest  English  adventurers  and  bravest  fighters 
was  Sir  John  Hawkins,  who  made  several  profitable  voyages 
to  the  Spanish  colonies  with  African  slaves.  When  his  five 


28  The  Century  of  Discovery 

ships  were  caught  in  a  Mexican  port  by  thirteen  Spanish  ships, 
he  fought  them  all  and  escaped  with  two  vessels.  One  of 
Hawkins's  captains  was  Francis  Drake,  who  in  1572  sailed  off 
again  to  prey  on  Spanish  commerce.  Pirate-like  he  harried 
the  Spanish  mainland,  captured  Spanish  vessels  and  mule  trains, 
and  carried  off  gold,  silver,  and  merchandise.  Nevertheless, 
on  his  return  to  England  Drake  was  kindly  received  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who  even  shared  in  the  plunder. 

The  slow  downfall  of  Spain  may  be  said  to  have  begun  when 
the  Spanish  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  revolted  and  formed  a 
union  against  Spain  (1576).  The  English  government  sym- 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AROUND  THE  WORLD. 

pathized  with  the  rebels ;  then  individual  Englishmen  took  an 
active  part  in  the  pulling  down  of  Spain.  In  1577  Drake,  with 
the  queen's  approval,  though  without  a  royal  commission,  set  off 
with  a  little  fleet ;  he  rounded  South  America,  passed  through 
the  Strait  of  Magellan  with  his  one  remaining  ship,  and  was  the 
first  to  see  Cape  Horn,  and  to  find  the  open  sea  to  the  south  of 
it.  The  story  of  Drake's  next  exploits  sounds  like  the  Arabian 
Nights,  and  is  adorned  with  such  phrases  as  "thirteene  chests 
full  of  royals  of  plate,  foure  score  pound  weight  of  golde,  and 
sixe  and  twentie  tunne  of  siluer."  He  sailed  up  the  unfortified 
west  coast  of  South  America,  capturing  Spanish  coasting  ships, 


First  English  Colonies  29 

terrifying  towns,  taking  one  prize  worth  a  million  dollars  on  its 
voyage  from  Peru,  and  throwing  the  Spaniards  into  a  panic. 

Running  far  to  the  north,  in  hope  of  finding  a  passage  through 
or  around  America  to  England,  he  put  into  a  bay  just  north 
of  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco  to  repair  his  ships,  and  called 
the  country  New  Albion.  Thence  he  struck  boldly  westward 
across  the  Pacific,  sailed  through  the  Philippines  and  the  Spice 
Islands,  and  then  home  again  (1580)  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  the  first  Englishman  to  circumnavigate  the  globe.  Queen 
Elizabeth  formally  knighted  him,  and  thus  proclaimed  him  an 
English  hero  fighting  for  his  sovereign. 

20.   FIRST  ENGLISH  COLONIES  (1578-1587) 

The  next  step  towards  colonization  was  a  vain  attempt  at 
planting  an  English  settlement  in  Newfoundland  under  a  new 
charter  granted  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  (1578).  His  half- 
brother,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  then  got  from  the  queen  a  new 
''patent,"  or  grant  of  lands  (1584),  authorizing  him  to  colonize 
''remote  heathen  and  barbarous  lands  .  .  .  not  actually  pos- 
sessed of  any  Christian  Prince."  Forthwith  he  sent  out  two  ves- 
sels, under  Amadas  and  Barlowe,  to  find  a  proper  place  for  a 
colony,  and  they  fixed  on  Roanoke  Island.  On  their  return  and 
favorable  report  Queen  Elizabeth  named  the  new  land  for  her- 
self, "Virginia." 

Three  times  Raleigh  sent  out  actual  colonists  to  Roanoke 
Island,  which  was  not  a  very  favorable  place.  The  third  colony, 
commanded  by  John  White  (1587),  was  made  up  of  150  people, 
including  seventeen  women.  One  of  them  gave  birth  to  Virginia 
Dare,  the  first  English  child  born  on  American  soil.  Part  of 
the  colonists  returned  to  England.  All  who  remained  in  America 
disappeared,  and  their  fate  to  this  day  is  uncertain. 

21.   WAR  WITH  SPAIN  (1587-1604) 

The  harrying  of  the  commerce  of  Spain  inevitably  led  to 
war,  and  the  crisis  came  in  1587,  when  Philip  II  resolved  to  in- 

HART'S  NKW  AUER.  HIST.  —  3 


30  The  Century  of  Discovery 

vade  England  and  destroy  the  plague  of  English  sea  rovers  at 
its  source.  The  proposed  invasion  took  the  form  of  a  religious 
crusade.  The  troops  were  to  be  carried  to  England  by  a 
mighty  Spanish  fleet  called  the  "Invincible  Armada."  The 
Armada  sailed  from  Corunna  in  1588 — 137  vessels,  carrying 

27,000  men  —  and 
made  its  way  in  half- 
moon  formation  up 
the  English  Channel. 
It  was  beset  by  an 
enemy  as  brave  as  the 
Spaniards  and  much 
more  nimble ;  for  the 
English  received  their 
guests  with  197  ships 
and  16,000  men, 
mostly  trained  sea- 
men. The  Armada 
stopped  at  the  Nether- 
lands, but  the  English 


ENGLISH  WARSHIP  OF  1588.     (From  a  tapestry 
in  the  oM  House  of  Lords.) 


finally  sent  fire  ships  among  the  Spaniards,  and  drove  them  out 
into  the  North  Sea,  where  many  of  the  fleet  were  destroyed. 
The  rest  attempted  to  escape  around  Scotland,  but  many  were 
lost  in  fearful  storms.  The  commander  in  chief  arrived  in  Spain 
at  last ;  and  gradually  67  ships  out  of  the  fleet  crept  into  port. 
The  war  meanwhile  had  extended  to  the  colonies,  and  it  lasted 
for  seventeen  years.  Drake  captured  and  plundered  the  city  of 
Santo  Domingo,  the  richest  in  the  New  World,  and  other  ports. 
The  new  king  of  Spain,  Philip  III,  and  the  new  king  of  England, 
James  I,  both  desired  peace ;  but  the  Spaniards  long  insisted 
that  England  should  agree  to  keep  Englishmen  from  trading 
in  the  Spanish  colonies,  or  settling  in  territory  claimed  by  Spain. 
On  both  points  the  English  stood  firm,  emboldened  by  their 
victory  over  the  Armada;  and  in  1604  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
made  without  either  of  the  desired  pledges.  Thus  the  way  was 


Rival  Claims  to  America  31 

opened  for  the  foundation  of  English  colonies  which  grew  into 
the  later  United  States,  in  territory  then  claimed  by  Spain. 

22.   RIVAL  CLAIMS  TO  AMERICA  (1584-1605) 

Gradually  the  coast  of  North  America  became  better  known, 
and  the  various  European  nations  began  to  bring  forward  argu- 
ments for  their  claims  to  America.  France  talked  about 
the  effect  of  the  voyages  of  Verrazano  and  Carder.  Spain  urged 
the  Pope's  bull  of  1493  an(l  tne  early  Spanish  explorations, 
assuming  that  coasts  once  skirted  by  Spanish  ships  remained 
Spanish,  and  that  the  territories  inland  from  such  coasts  were 
Spanish  to  eternity.  Against  these  sweeping  claims,  the  Eng- 
lish geographer  Hakluyt  asserted  that  "one  Cabot  and  the 
English  did  first  discover  the  shores  about  the  Chesapeake  " ; 
and  a  contemporary  writer  set  forth  the  English  title  to  Vir- 
ginia as  follows:  (i)  first  discovery  by  the  subjects  of  Henry 
VII  (1497);  (2)  voyages  under  Elizabeth  "to  the  mainland 
and  infinite  islands  of  the  West  Indies"  ;  (3)  the  voyage  of  Ama- 
das  and  Barlowe  (1584) ;  (4)  the  actual  settlement  by  the  White 
colony  (1587) ;  (5)  a  broad  and  quite  unfounded  claim  that  the 
coast  and  the  ports  of  Virginia  had  been  long  discovered,  peo- 
pled, and  possessed  by  many  English.  The  writer  said  of  the 
Pope's  bull,  "if  there  be  a  law  that  the  Pope  may  do  what  he 
list,  let  them  that  list  obey  him." 

From  1602  to  1605  three  attempts  were  made  by  individuals 
to  plant  colonies  on  what  is  now  the  coast  of  Maine,  on  the 
basis  of  these  English  claims.  All  these  efforts  failed  ;  for  the 
English  had  not  learned  to  bear  the  cold  winters,  and  as  yet  had 
too  little  experience  in  colonizing. 

23.  REVIEW 

Notwithstanding  voyages  by  the  Northmen,  who  reached 
the  northeast  part  of  North  America,  the  first  European  to  dis- 
cover and  occupy  western  territory  for  a  European  power  was 
Christopher  Columbus,  in  1492.  He  explored  the  West  Indies 


32  The  Century  of  Discovery 

and  later  coasted  parts  of  the  mainland  of  South  America  and 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

The  Portuguese  were  already  on  the  eve  of  reaching  southern 
Asia  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  sea  route ;  and  in  1494  Portugal 
and  Spain  agreed  to  a  north  and  south  "line  of  demarcation," 
to  divide  their  claims.  John  Cabot  in  1497  discovered  land  for 
the  king  of  England.  America  received  its  name  from  an 
Italian  explorer  named  Americus  Vespucius. 

In  1513  Balboa  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  saw  the 
open  Pacific.  Six  years  later  Magellan  sailed  around  the 
southern  end  of  South  America  and  through  the  Pacific  west- 
ward ;  his  expedition  was  the  first  to  go  around  the  world. 

The  Spaniards  made  settlements  in  South  America  and  Mexico, 
and  explored  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  the  United  States. 
They  claimed  all  the  coasts  that  they  skirted  and  all  the  country 
inland  from  those  coasts ;  but  their  claim  was  ignored  by  France, 
whose  vessels  explored  the  coasts  of  present  New  York  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  River. 

The  English  also  disregarded  the  Spanish  claim  to  sole  pos- 
session, and  their  freebooters  began  to  plunder  Spanish  ships 
and  towns.  They  also  tried  to  find  a  northwest  passage  to  India 
around  North  America.  In  1577,  Drake,  an  English  sea  captain, 
sailed  around  South  America  into  the  Pacific,  plundered  the 
Spaniards  there,  and  made  his  way  back  home  westward.  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  and  his  friends  tried  to  plant  colonies  in  New- 
foundland and  on  Roanoke  Island,  but  failed. 

Spain  finally  sent  out  the  Armada  of  1588  to  crush  England, 
but  the  great  fleet  was  defeated ;  and  after  years  of  irregular 
warfare  Spain  and  England  finally  made  peace  in  1604.  By  this 
time  the  English  were  firmly  convinced  that  they  had  a  better 
claim  than  any  one  else  to  part  of  North  America. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  20,  25,  28,  63.  —  Avery,  U.S., 
I.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  28.  —  Bourne,  Spain  in  Am.  —  Coman,  Indust. 
Hist.,  8.  —  Epoch  Maps,  no.  2.  —  Semple,  Ceogr.  Conditions,  1-18. — 


References  and  Topics  33 

Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  105-111, 191.  —  Winsor,  Columbus;  Cartier  to  Fron- 
tenac,  1-76.  —  See  U.  S.  Supt.  of  Docs.,  Geography  and  Exploration  List. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  ch.  ii.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  17-54.— 
Bourne,  Spain  in  Am.,  chs.  i-xii.  —  Channing,  U.S.,  I.  chs.  i-v. — 
Cheyney,  Europ.  Background,  ch.  iv.  —  Fiske,  Discov.  of  Am.,  I.  147- 
516,  II.  1-293,  365-569;  Old  Va.  I.  1-40. — Hovgaard,  Voyages  of 
the  Norsemen.  —  Lummis,  Span.  Pioneers.  —  Markham,  Christopher 
Columbus.  —  Parkman,  Pioneers  of  France,  9-228.  —  Reeves,  Find- 
ing of  Wineland.  —  Tyler,  England  in  Am.,  chs.  i,  ii. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  i,  3,  9,  13.  —  Bourne,  Narratives 
of  De  Soto.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  I.  §§  16-36,  44-48;  Patriots  and 
Statesmen,  I.  31-59;  Source  Book,  §§  1-4,  7.  —  Higginson,  Am.  Explor- 
ers, 1-228.  — James,  Readings,  §§  1-7.  — Jameson,  Original  Narratives 
(Northmen,  Spanish,  English,  and  French).  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  nos. 
17,  20,  29,  31,  33-37,  39,  ?i,  9°,  92,  102,  115-120,  122. —  Payne, 
Elizabethan  Seamen.  —  Winship,  Journey  of  Coronado;  Sailors'  Nar- 
ratives.—See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §§66-68; 
Syllabus,  293-296. 

Illustrative.  Ballantyne,  Erling  the  Bold  (Iceland) ;  Norsemen  in 
the  West.  —  Barnes,  Drake  and  his  Yeomen.  —  Cooper,  Mercedes  of 
Castile. — Johnston,  Sir  Mortimer  (Sea  dogs).  —  Kingsley,  Westward 
Ho!  —  Longfellow,  Skeleton  in  Armor;  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert.  —  Lowell, 
Columbus;  Voyage  to  Vinland.  —  Munroe,  Flamingo  Feather  (Hugue- 
nots).—  Simms,  Vasconselos  (De  Soto). — Tennyson,  Columbus. — 
Wallace,  Fair  God  (Mexico). 

Pictures.  — •  Avery,  U.S.,  I.  —  Mentor,  serial  nos.  13,  22.  —  Wilson, 
Am.  People,  I.  —  Winsor,  America,  II-IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  The  English  claims  based  on  the  Cabot  voyages.  [§  15]  — 
(2)  Balboa's  expedition.  [§  16]  —  (3)  Magellan's  expedition.  [§  16]  — 
(4)  Cortes  in  Mexico.  [§  16]  —  (5)  Pizarro  in  Peru.  [§  16]  —  (6)  De  Soto's 
expedition.  [§  17]  — (?)  Carder's  voyages.  [§  18] — (8)  The  French 
settlements  in  Florida  and  South  Carolina.  [§  18]  —  (9)  Adventures  of 
Sir  John  Hawkins.  [§  19]  —  (10)  Adventures  of  Sir  Francis  Drake.  [§  19] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Life  of  Christopher  Columbus  before  1492.  [§  13]  —  (12)  An- 
cient and  medieval  ideas  that  the  world  was  round.  [§  13]  —  (13)  Por- 
tuguese voyages  to  the  coast  of  Africa.  [§  15]  —  (14)  Earliest  accounts 
of  South  America.  [§  15]  —  (15)  Spanish  silver  mines  in  the  New 
World.  [§  17]  —  (16)  Who  first  discovered  Chesapeake  Bay?  [§  22] 


CHAPTER  III 

EUROPEAN    COLONIZATION    (1604-1660) 
24.   EUROPEAN  COLONIZING  CONDITIONS 

THE  year  1604  is  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of  the  world 
because  it  marks  not  only  the  end  of  Spanish  supremacy  but 
also  the  beginning  of  a  long  rivalry  among  six  European 
powers  for  a  lodging  in  America.  All  of  them  expected  to  real- 
ize a  profit  from  American  trade ;  all  of  them  hoped  that  their 
colonies  would  aid  them  to  hold  their  own  in  the  whirlpool  of 
European  policy ;  all  of  them  clung  to  their  naval  power ;  and 
each  looked  upon  the  colonial  trade  of  the  others  as  fair  game 
for  capture  whenever  a  war  broke  out. 

(i)  Spain  grew  steadily  weaker  throughout  the  whole  period 
from  1604  to  1660,  but  still  kept  most  of  her  colonies  in 
America.  (2)  England  established  her  merchants  in  southern 
Asia  and  in  North  America.  (3)  France  was  in  rivalry  with 
England  all  over  the  globe.  (4)  Holland,  though  not  recognized 
by  Spain  as  an  independent  nation  until  1648,  was  actually 
a  great  sea  power  with  a  strong  navy  which  several  times 
defeated  the  English  navy.  (5)  Sweden  had  considerable 
territory  on  the  south  side  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  under 
the  great  king  Gustavus  Adolphus  became  one  of  the  strong 
naval  and  military  powers  of  Europe.  (6)  Portugal  was  for 
half  a  century  annexed  to  Spain  and  afterwards  remained 
content  with  the  immense  area  of  what  is  now  Brazil,  and  took 
no  part  in  the  struggles  of  the  other  five  powers  for  American 
territory  and  power. 

34 


Spanish  Settlements  35 

Although  Spain  and  France  were  Catholic  countries,  and 
England,  Holland,  and  Sweden  were  Protestant,  no  alliances 
were  formed  on  a  religious  basis.  The  French  defied  the  Span- 
iards, and  the  English  fought  the  Dutch,  without  recognizing 
any  ties  of  religion.  Even  so  natural  a  combination  as  that 
between  England  and  the  neighboring  United  Netherlands, 
commonly  called  Holland,  was  never  brought  to  pass.  Each 
power  struggled  for  itself  alone,  and  the  two  weaker  ones, 
Sweden  and  Holland,  found  no  defenders  when  stronger  neigh- 
bors seized  their  territory. 

The  settlement  and  the  political  division  of  America  were 
very  little  affected  by  the  nations  of  eastern  Europe,  where, 
beyond  the  then  powerful  kingdom  of  Poland,  a  new  and  crude 
empire  of  Russia  was  growing  up.  To  the  south  of  Poland,  the 
Turks  had  pushed  their  way  up  into  the  heart  of  Europe,  and 
Austria,  Hungary,  and  Germany  were  from  time  to  time 
fighting  for  their  national  existence.  They  had  no  energy  to 
spare  for  sending  colonists  westward,  and  the  Germans  thus 
missed  the  opportunity  of  planting  colonies  in  the  attractive 
New  World.  Then  Protestant  north  Germany  and  Catholic 
south  Germany  joined  in  the  terrible  grapple  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  (1618-1648),  which  ruined  and  demoralized  both 
sections.  This  left  as  the  main  contestants  for  the  two  Americas, 
the  three  western  powers,  Spain,  France,  and  England. 

25.  SPANISH  SETTLEMENTS  (1492-1689) 
The  Spaniards  had  the  great  advantages  of  being  first  on  the 
ground,  of  profiting  by  a  century's  experience  in  colonization, 
and  of  having  fixed  their  settlements  in  rich  and  productive 
regions.  They  occupied  the  four  large  islands  of  the  West 
Indies  —  Cuba,  Hispaniola,  Jamaica,  and  Porto  Rico  —  and 
such  of  the  smaller  islands  as  they  desired.  The  first  supply 
of  native  island  laborers  had  long  ago  been  killed  out,  but 
there  was  a  lively  importation  of  Africans  to  take  their  place, 
and  with  the  aid  of  this  slave  labor  the  islands  were  prosperous. 


36  European  Colonization 

Mexico  was  found  to  contain  a  very  rich  tropical  belt  and 
large  amounts  of  arable  land  on  the  high  plateau,  and  also 
valuable  silver  mines.  A  few  settlements  were  made  on  the 
west  side  of  Central  America.  Peru  had  silver  mines,  which, 
with  those  of  Mexico,  poured  forth  to  Spain  a  steady  stream 
of  "plate";  that  is,  of  silver  bullion. 

Spain  had  a  flourishing  colony  on  the  north  coast  of  South 
America,  in  which  Carthagena,  Caracas,  and  Bogota  were  the 
principal  cities.  She  had  also  prosperous  colonies  on  the  Plata, 
outside  the  main  area  of  Spanish  colonization. 

In  all  these  colonies  could  be  found  walled  cities,  stately 
cathedrals,  strong  fortifications,  improved  harbors  and  ware- 
houses, and  spacious  mansions.  The  population  of  Spanish 
birth  was  as  well  off  and  quite  as  enlightened  as  the  inhabitants 
of  Spain.  The  Spanish  Americans  had  noble  parks,  bridges, 
and  plazas,  botanic  gardens,  printing  presses,  and  universities. 

The  serious  weakness  in  the  Spanish  colonies  on  the  mainland 
was  the  presence  and  the  influence  of  the  natives.  Every  part 
of  America  occupied  by  the  Spaniards  was  conquered  from  a 
considerable  native  population,  which  when  overwhelmed  by 
the  ships  and  horses  and  armor  and  firearms  of  the  white 
men,  was  obliged  perforce  to  accept  the  new  rulers.  Great 
numbers  of  the  Indians  were  converted  and  partly  civilized, 
though  numerous  natives  farther  inland  remained  independent 
and  often  very  hostile  to  the  white  men.  Spaniards  and  In- 
dians united  in  a  mixed  race  which  had  the  Spanish  language 
and  traditions,  and  yet  was  cut  off  from  the  social  and  other 
advantages  of  the  born  Spaniard  and  his  descendants  of 
the  pure  Spanish  blood.  Hence  it  was  always  easy  for  the 
Spaniards  to  raise  armies,  which  could  include  the  half-breeds 
and  Indians,  but  they  were  never  willing  to  build  up  colonies 
in  which  all  the  people  shared  in  the  public  life  of  the  com- 
munity. 

During  the  seventeenth  century  the  Spanish  colonies  were 
gaining  in  population  and  strength ;  but  the  Spaniards  showed 


The  French  in  America  37 

a  remarkable  lack  of  interest  in  the  northern  part  of  their 
dominion,  now  occupied  by  the  southwestern  and  Pacific  states 
of  the  Union.  Settlers  pushed  up  the  Rio  Grande,  and  after 
several  towns  had  been  uprooted  by  the  Indians,  succeeded  in 
1605  in  planting  Santa  Fe.  Nearly  the  whole  of  Texas  was 
left  to  the  fierce  and  warlike  Indian  tribes  that  the  Spaniards 
found  there;  and  until  1769,  not  a  single  settlement  was  made 
on  the  Pacific  coast  north  of  the  present  Mexican  territory. 
Excepting  the  feeble  little  town  of  St.  Augustine,  there  were 
no  Spanish  settlements  in  Florida  or  on  the  north  coast  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

26.   THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA  (1603-1632) 

The  boldest  and  most  successful  American  explorers  during 
this  second  century  of  colonization  in  America  were  the  French. 
They  did  not  set  out  to  fill  the  country  with  settlements  or  to 
build  up  rich  cities.  Their  main  purpose  was  to  make  a  profit 
out  of  the  one  product  of  northern  North  America  which  was 
then  highly  prized  in  Europe,  namely,  the  furs.  Therefore 
they  ignored  the  claim  which  they  might  have  made  on  the 
basis  of  Verazzano's  voyage  of  1524,  but  followed  out  the  later 
discoveries  of  Carder  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  heavily  for- 
ested country  which  stretched  indefinitely  westward  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  abounded  in  fur-bearing  animals,  particularly 
the  beaver,  the  fur  of  which  was  largely  used  for  the  making 
of  hats.  The  French  controlled  the  island  of  Newfoundland  be- 
cause it  was  a  convenient  basis  of  operations  in  their  fisheries. 
They  looked  upon  Nova  Scotia  with  favor,  partly  because 
of  the  rich  inshore  fisheries.  The  brilliant  French  king  Henry 
IV  revived  some  of  the  ancient  claims,  and  in  1603  began 
a  systematic  colonization  which  lasted  till  the  defeat  of  the 
French  by  the  English  in  1763. 

As  in  the  earlier  French  attempts  (§  18),  the  leading  spirit 
was  a  Huguenot.  The  Sieur  de  Monts  received  a  royal  patent 
for  the  land  between  the  fortieth  and  forty-sixth  parallels 


38  European  Colonization 

(that  is,  from  the  latitude  of  Philadelphia  almost  to  that  of 
Quebec),  which  was  named  Acadie  (map,  page  40).  Under  this 
patent,  which  gave  him  the  sole  right  to  trade  in  Acadie,  De 
Monts  made  a  temporary  settlement  on  Passamaquoddy  Bay 
(1604)  and  others  of  his  party  settled  Port  Royal,  later  called 
Annapolis  by  the  English.  Then  his  agent,  Samuel  de  Cham- 
plain,  founded  Quebec  (1608),  which  is  the  first  French  settle- 
ment in  North  America  that  has  had  a  continuous  existence. 

In  1606  the  king  of  England,  flatly  disregarding  the  French 
claims,  granted  to  some  of  his  subjects  the  right  to  make  settle- 
ments as  far  north  as  the  forty-fifth  parallel  (the  latitude  of 


CHAMPLAIN  DEFEATING  THE  IROQUOIS,  1609. 
Voyages,  1613.) 


(From  Champlain's 


Halifax).  Efforts  were  also- made  to  plant  colonies  on  the  Maine 
coast  not  far  from  the  earliest  French  settlement.  The  French 
paid  no  attention  to  the  English  claims,  and  Champlain,  who 
was  the  most  brilliant  and  most  successful  of  French  explorers 
and  colonists,  boldly  pushed  into  the  interior.  Soon  after 
settling  at  Quebec  he  joined  a  war  party  of  Algonquin  Indians 
in  an  excursion  up  the  water  now  called  Lake  Champlain,  where 
they  fell  in  with  a  band  of  fierce  and  hostile  Iroquois.  Cham- 


The  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  39 

plain's  firearms  quickly  dispersed  the  strangers  in  a  panic,  and 
he  thus  laid  the  foundations  of  hatred  and  dreadful  warfare  be- 
tween the  French  and  the  Five  Nations.  In  1611  he  founded 
Montreal,  and  a  few  years  later  was  the  first  European  to  reach 
the  shores  of  Lake  Huron  and  of  Lake  Ontario. 

A  settlement  made  by  French  Jesuits  on  the  island  of  Mount 
Desert  in  1613  was  forthwith  the  scene  of  the  first  armed  conflict 
between  the  French  and  the  English  on  American  soil.  Captain 
Argall  from  the  English  colony  of  Virginia,  which  had  been 
founded  a  few  years  before,  descended  upon  Mount  Desert  and 
carried  away  the  French  settlers.  A  few  years  later  England 
went  so  far,  during  a  war  between  England  and  France,  as  to 
capture  Port  Royal  and  Quebec.  Nevertheless,  by  the  treaty 
of  St.  Germain  (1632),  which  was  the  first  European  agreement 
as  to  American  boundaries,  the  English  formally  acknowledged 
the  rightful  title  of  France  to  "New  France,  Acadia  (Acadie), 
and  Canada";  that  is,  to 
the  present  Nova  Scotia 
and  the  lower  St.  Law- 
rence valley,  with  the 
country  between.  In  re- 
turn, the  English  were  to 
be  undisturbed  in  their 
new  colonies  of  Plymouth 
and  Massachusetts. 


^27.   THE  DUTCH  AND  THE 
SWEDES  (1609-1655) 

The  year  1609,  when 
Champlain  fought  the 
Iroquois  on  the  shores  of 
the  lake  (§26),  was  marked 
also  by  another  important 
event  in  American  history. 


OLD  DUTCH  HorsK,  ALBANY. 


European  Colonization 


NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEIGHBORING  SETTLEMENTS. 

In  that  year  Henry  Hudson,  sailing  under  the  flag  of  Holland, 
discovered  and  explored  the  magnificent  river  which  now  bears 
his  name.  In  1614,  a  Dutch  company  built  the  trading  post 
of  New  Amsterdam,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  New 
York ;  but  the  first  permanent  town  there  was  built  twelve 
years  later. 

A  new  and  enterprising  Dutch  West  India  Company,  which 
received  a  monopoly  of  the  Dutch  trade  in  America  in  1621, 
laid  a  broad  foundation  for  a  colony  which  was  called  New 
Netherland.  Agents  of  that  company  planted  little  trading 
posts  on  the  Connecticut  River  (Fort  Good  Hope),  on  Long 
Island,  on  the  upper  Hudson  River  or  "North  River"  (Fort 
Orange,  now  Albany),  and  on  the  "South  River,"  as  they  called 
the  Delaware.  Great  land  grants  were  assigned  to  Dutch 
"patroons,"  gentlemen  who  were  to  bring  out  their  own  settlers 
and  to  establish  a  sort  of  feudal  system. 


The  Five  Nations  41 

Sweden  contested  the  Dutch  claims  by  sending  a  colony  of 
Swedes  and  Finns  who  settled  on  the  lower  Delaware  at  Fort 
Christina  (now  Wilmington).  The  colony  was  not  well  sup- 
ported by  the  home  company,  and  in  1655  it  was  seized 
by  the  Dutch  of  New  Amsterdam.  The  conditions  seemed 
favorable  for  a  permanent  Dutch  colony,  occupying  the  best 
part  of  the  North  Atlantic  seacoast. 

28.  THE  FIVE  NATIONS 

French  and  Dutch  alike  speedily  learned  that  the  way  from 
the  coast  to  the  interior  with  its  valuable  furs  was  held  by  the 
powerful  confeder- 
acy   of    the    Five          rcX^^A-N^Sir^r!-^"- ^  ''•"-•-  -~~j- 
Nations  of  Iroquois 
—  the     Mohawks, 
Oneidas,    Ononda- 


IROQUOIS  LONG  HOUSE. 
territory  stretched 

along  central  New  York,  where  they  lived  in  villages 
made  up  of  log  cabins  called  "long  houses."  Though  they 
never  numbered  more  than  ten  thousand  people,  of  whom 
two  thousand  or  three  thousand  were  warriors,  their  war 
parties  were  a  terror  as  far  east  as  Boston,  as  far  south  as  Vir- 
ginia, and  as  far  west  as  Illinois. 

Though  constantly  reduced  by  desperate  fighting  and  disease, 
they  kept  up  their  numbers  by  adopting  prisoners.  Their 
internal  organization  was  weak,  for  there  was  only  a  loose  con- 
federation among  the  tribes;  and  if  the  young  men  wanted 
to  go  to  war,  they  made  up  a  party,  including  members  of  one 
or  more  tribes,  or  of  all  the  tribes,  and  went  their  way,  without 
orders  or  discipline. 

The  worst  enemies  of  the  Iroquois  were  their  own  fierce- 
ness, disease,  and  the  white  man's  rum.  Like  other  Indians, 
they  suffered  fearfully  from  smallpox,  which  ran  its  course  till 


42  European  Colonization 

often  whole  villages  were  depopulated.  As  to  the  effects  of 
liquor,  an  eyewitness  says:  "They  were  all  lustily  drunk, 
raving,  striking,  shouting,  jumping,  fighting  each  other,  and 
foaming  at  the  mouth  like  raging  wild  beasts.  And  this  was 
caused  by  Christians !" 

29.  THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  INTERIOR  (1634-1660) 

As  the  Iroquois  were  hostile  to  the  French  (§  26),  they  were 
disposed  to  be  friendly  to  the  Dutch;  and  the  Dutch  made 
the  most  of  their  opportunity  for  trade  with  that  powerful  body 
of  Indians.  The  natural  route  of  the  French  traders  up  the 
St.  Lawrence,  through  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie  to  the 
west,  was  easily  blocked  by  the  Iroquois.  Hence  the  French 
used  the  Ottawa  route  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake  Huron 
(map,  page  n).  Many  Hurons  and  other  Indians  were  con- 
verted by  the  tireless  Catholic  missionaries.  In  1634  the  trader 
Jean  Nicolet  reached  Lake  Michigan ;  a  missionary,  Father 
Allouez,  discovered  Lake  Superior  in  1665.  Before  long,  French 
traders  opened  up  an  overland  route  from  Lake  Superior  to 
Hudson  Bay  and  brought  down  rich  supplies  of  furs. 

Meanwhile  the  French  missionaries  were  making  heroic, 
though  on  the  whole  unavailing,  efforts  to  Christianize  the 
Iroquois.  Father  Isaac  Jogues's  account  of  his  experience  as 
a  prisoner  gives  a  frightful  picture  of  his  captors,  who  seemed 
to  him  like  demons ;  they  leaped  upon  him  like  wild  beasts,  tore 
out  his  nails,  and  crunched  his  fingers  with  their  teeth ;  his 
attendant  Hurons  were  tortured  on  a  scaffold  in  the  midst  of 
the  Iroquois  village;  yet  the  heroic  priest  "began  to  instruct 
them  separately  on  the  articles  of  the  faith,  then  on  the  very 
stage  itself  baptized  two  with  raindrops  gathered  from  the 
leaves  of  a  stalk  of  Indian  corn."  Rescued  by  the  Dutch,  this 
brave  and  self-sacrificing  man  returned  and  plunged  a  second 
time  into  that  misery,  and  died  a  martyr's  death.  The 
Troquois  long  remained  a  barrier  to  western  exploration. 


First  Permanent  English  Colony 


43 


30.   FIRST  PERMANENT  ENGLISH  COLONY  (1607-1612) 

While  the  French  and  the  Dutch  were  founding  their  North 
American  colonies,  the  English  were  at  the  same  time  planting 
settlements  in  Virginia  and  New  England.  The  early  English 


>1»  Claim  under 
Charter  of  1009 
New  England  Charter  18SO 
SCALE  OF  MILES 


ENGLISH  TERRITORIAL  GRANTS. 

attempts  to  found  a  colony 
in  Virginia  (§  20)  had  been 
in  defiance  of  the  Spaniards, 
who  claimed  the  Atlantic  coast 
from  Florida  indefinitely  north- 
ward. These  attempts  were 
renewed  in  1606  under  a  royal 
charter  issued  by  King  James 
I,  which  created  two  corporations :  (i)  The  so-called  Plymouth 
Company  was  to  make  a  settlement  somewhere  betw.een  the 
thirty-eighth  and  forty-fifth  parallels.  (2)  The  London  Com- 
pany was  to  colonize  somewhere  between  the  thirty-fourth  and 
forty-first  parallels.  The  Spanish  government  looked  upon  the 
scheme  as  an  attempt  to  plant  a  naval  station  for  the  vexation 
of  Spanish  commerce.  The  Spanish  ambassador  at  London 


44  European  Colonization 

suggested  to  his  master,  "It  will  be  serving  God  and  Your 
Majesty  to  drive  these  villains  out  from  there  and  hang  them"  ; 
but  sloth,  poverty,  and  hesitation  to  renew  the  war  held  back 
the  Spaniards  from  anything  stronger  than  protest. 

The  Plymouth  Company  never  made  a  permanent  settle- 
ment; but  on  May  13,  1607,  a  party  of  one  hundred  and  four 
emigrants,  sent  by  the  London  Company,  selected  a  peninsula 
on  the  James  River  for  a  settlement  which  they  called  James- 
town. The  spot  was  one  of  the  least  favorable  in  that  fine 
country ;  it  was  low,  marshy,  mosquito-cursed,  unhealthful, 

and  hard  to  defend  from 
the  Indians,  who  attacked 
it  within  two  weeks. 

The  little  colony  was 
badly  managed  from  the 
first.  In  the  course  of 
two  and  a  half  years,  630 
immigrants  came  out,  of 
whom  570  died  forthwith  ; 
yet  the  founders  of  Vir- 
ginia did  not  lose  courage. 
The  company  reorganized 
in  1609,  under  a  second 
charter  granting  a  specified 
tract,  extending  two  hun- 
dred miles  each  way  along 
the  coast  from  Old  Point 
Comfort,  together  with 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH  IN  1624.     (From 
the  title-page  of  his  Generall  Historic.) 


"  all  that  Space  and  Circuit 
of  Land,  lying  from  the 
Sea  Coast  of  the  Precinct  aforesaid,  up  into  the  Land  through- 
out from  Sea  to  Sea,  West  and  Northwest."  In  1612,  by  a 
third  and  last  charter,  the  company  was  reorganized  and  re- 
ceived larger  powers  of  control  of  its  own  affairs. 
In  the  midst  of  distress  and  death  in  the  early  days  of  Vir- 


Development  of  Virginia  45 

ginia,  one  spirit  shone  brightly.  It  was  Captain  John  Smith, 
who  alternately  pacified  and  fought  the  Indians;  who  found 
supplies,  explored  the  country,  and  was  the  principal  man  in 
the  little  government.  Later  in  life  Smith  told  a  believing 
world  that  he  was  once  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  who  were 
about  to  beat  out  his  brains ;  whereupon  Pocahontas  (then  a 
child  of  ten  or  twelve  years),  daughter  of  the  great  chief  Pow- 
hatan,  sprang  between  him  and  the  club  and  saved  his  life. 
Whether  this  story  be  true  or  imagined,  the  courage  and  ability 
of  Smith  are  undeniable. 

31.   DEVELOPMENT  OF  VIRGINIA  (1613-1650) 

The  London  Company  spent  on  Virginia  the  immense  sum 
of  £100,000  in  twelve  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period 
the  colonists  numbered  only  400.  The  company  became  en- 
tangled in  English  politics,  and  passed  into  the  control  of  op- 
ponents of  royal  power.  In  1619  it  authorized  the  meeting  of 
a  popular  assembly  in  Virginia  —  the  first  free  representative 
government  in  America.  Accordingly  twenty-two  "burgesses," 
elected  from  the  various  settlements  of  Virginia,  met  in  the 
church  at  Jamestown,  and  drew  up  numerous  laws  for  the  col- 
ony. The  year  1619  also  marks  the  beginning  of  the  African 
slave  trade  in  the  English  colonies.  A  Dutch  man-of-war  in 
Virginia  exchanged  twenty  negro  slaves  for  provisions;  and 
thus  began  a  new  source  of  labor  for  the  cultivation  of  tobacco, 
which  quickly  became  the  main  industry  of  Virginia. 

In  1623  the  Indians  arose  and  killed  nearly  350  settlers;  and 
the  tragedy  gave  point  to  enemies  of  the  colony  in  England, 
who  assailed  it  as  a  swampy,  pestilential,  ill-hpused,  and  dreary 
place,  where  "tobacco  only  was  the  business."  In  1624,  by 
the  judgment  of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  the  Virginia 
charters  were  held  null  and  void.  Thereafter  Virginia  had 
only  such  a  government  as  the  king  chose  to  set  up;  but  the 
governors  whom  he  appointed  were  instructed  to  call  elected 
assemblies,  and  Virginia  never  k>st  this  privilege  of  partial 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  4 


46  European  Colonization 

self-government.     The  colonists  learned  how  to  live  in 'a  new 
country,  and  by  1650  they  numbered  about  15,000. 

32.   PURITANS  AND  PILGRIMS  (1604-1660) 

Early  Virginia  was  simply  a  commercial  speculation,  pushed 
by  the  wealthy  stockholders  of  a  powerful  company.  The 
next  English  colony  in  America  was  founded  by  poor  people 
who  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  their  own  govern- 
ment. During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  there  grew  up  within  the 
established  Church  of  England  a  body  of  so-called.  Puritans, 
who  felt  that  the  Reformation  had  not  gone  far  enough ;  and 
,  out  of  the  Puritans  arose  a  body  of  "Separatists"  (later  called 
;  Independents),  who  would  not  remain  in  that  church.  Under 
James  I,  many  Puritan  ministers  were  deprived  of  their  right  to 
hold  services ;  the  Separatist  congregations  were  broken  up ;  and 
about  three  hundred  of  the  Separatists  took  refuge  in  Holland. 

A  God-fearing  and  industrious  folk,  the  exiles  found  themselves 
strangers  in  Holland,  and  feared  that  their  children  would  not 
hold  to  their  faith.  Under  the  advice  of  their  pastor,  Rev.  John 
Robinson,  about  two  hundred  who  were  later  called  "Pilgrims1' 
made  up  their  minds  to  seek  a  place  of  settlement  in  Amer- 
ica. Their  friends  in  England  lent  them  about  £5000,  and 
they  obtained  from  the  London  Company  a  patent  for  lands 
to  be  located  somewhere  within  the  general  bounds  of  the  sec- 
ond charter  of  that  company.  After  many  difficulties,  about  a 
hundred  of  the  Pilgrims  left  the  harbor  of  Plymouth,  England, 
on  the  ship  Mayflower,  bound  for  the  Hudson  River  country. 
After  three  months  of  stormy  voyage  they  found  themselves 
just  off  Cape  Cod,  which  was  part  of  the  territory  of  the  old 
Plymouth  Company,  and  in  a  region  already  named  New  Eng- 
land. Since  they  had  no  patent  for  lands  in  that  region,  those 
on  board  the  Mayflower  drew  up  a  brief  "compact"  (November 
n,  1620),  by  which  they  agreed  to  organize  as  a  "civil  body 
politic"  for  their  government  after  they  should  land  ;  and  they 
chose  John  Carver  to  be  governor. 


Massachusetts 


47 


After  exploring  the  coast 
the  Pilgrims  decided  to 
settle  on  the  bay  already 
called  Plymouth  Harbor, 
and  landed  December  n, 
1620  (December  21,  new 
style),  hear  a  great  bowl- 
der now  called  Plymouth 
Rock.  The  season  was 
cruelly  hard,  and  during 
the  first  winter  half  the 

colonists  died  from  Cold,  TJJ£MAVFLOWER.  (From  a  model  in  the 
poor  food,  and  Other  hard-  National  Museum,  Washington.) 

ships.     The     next    season 

others  came  out,  and  thenceforward  the  little  colony  pros- 
pered. The  people  paid  their  debt  due  in  England  out  of  their 
fishery  and  Indian  trading  business.  They  set  up  the  first 
town  meetings  in  America,  and  later  organized  a  repre- 
sentative assembly  (1639).  In  the  seventy-one  years  of 
its  existence  as  a  separate  colony,  Plymouth  never  had  a 
charter  or  a  royal  governor.  Yet  it  hardly  knew  internal 
strife ;  it  was  at  peace  with  its  neighbors ;  it  showed  that 
Englishmen  could  prosper  in  the  cold  climate  of  the  north- 
eastern coast ;  it  established  in  the  New  World  the  great 
principle  of  a  church  free  from  governmental  interference,  and 
founded  on  the  will  of  the  members.  Above  all,  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  handed  down  to  later  generations  priceless  traditions 
of  strength,  manliness,  patience,  uprightness,  and  confidence  in 
God. 

33.   MASSACHUSETTS  (1629-1634) 

In  1629,  some  merchants  and  country  gentlemen,  most  of 
them  Puritans  who  still  adhered  to  the  Church  of  England, 
secured  from  King  Charles  I  a  charter  issued  to  the  "Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  Xew  England  " 


48  European  Colonization 

Their  territory  was  to  extend  from  a  line  three  miles  north  of 
the  Merrimack  River  to  a  line  three  miles  south  of  the  Charles 
River,  and  was  to  reach  westward  to  the  South  Sea  (Pacific 
Ocean). 

The  company  had  behind  it  abundant  means  and  energy, 
and  fifteen  of  the  stockholders  agreed  to  go  out  to  Massachu- 
setts. They  took  their  charter  with  them,  as  their  authority 
for  holding  a  "general  court,"  or  stockholders'  meeting,  in  order 
to  carry  on  their  affairs  thousands  of  miles  away  from  the 
inquisitive  English  government.  In  1630  a  thousand  people 
landed  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  work 
of  the  government  of  the  company  was  started  under  the 
governorship  of  John  Winthrop.  They  found  in  existence 
several  little  towns,  which  were  soon  brought  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  company. 

Although  King  Charles  was  furious  at  the  unexpected  trans- 
fer of  the  charter  from  England  to  Massachusetts,  the  colony 
grew  rapidly,  and  in  ten  years  increased  to  nearly  3000  people. 
Within  a  few  months  the  colony  became  self-sustaining,  raising 
its  own  food,  and  shortly  it  had  a  surplus  of  fish  and  timber 
and  furs  to  send  to  England.  It  was  also  able  to  build  up  a 
system  of  government  which  made  it  almost  an  independent 
republic. 

(1)  The  written  charter  was  speedily  found  to  be  a  kind  of 
constitution  which  was  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  people ; 
and  to  it  was  added  a  little  code  of  laws  called  the  "Body  of 
Liberties." 

(2)  The  government  was  genuinely  popular,  for  the  governor 
and  "assistants"  formed  a  kind  of  council  elected  every  year 
by  the  "freemen,"  that  is,  the  members  of  the  company;   and 
the  principal  inhabitants  were  made  members.     In  1634  the 
people  demanded  and  received  an  elective  general  court,   and 
the  assistants  became  an  upper  house. 

(3)  The   settlements  were  made  in  villages,  each  governed 
in  local  affairs  by  its  own  town  meeting. 


Maryland 


49 


34.   MARYLAND  (1632-1650) 

Hardly  had  Massachusetts  been  settled,  when  a  southern 
colony  was  chartered  under  Catholic  influence.  In  1632 
King  Charles  granted 
to  Lord  ,  Baltimore, 
head  of  the  Calvert 
family,  a  charter  for 
a  colony  called  Mary- 
land after  Queen  Hen- 
rietta Maria.  It  was 
bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  "  fortieth  degree 
of  latitude,"  on  the 
east  by  Delaware  Bay 
and  the  ocean,  on  the 
south  by  the  Potomac, 
and  on  the  west  by  ORIGINAL  EXTENT  OF  MARYLAND.  (Light 
a  north  and  south  dashes  indicate  present  state  boundaries.) 

line  drawn  through  the  source  of  the  Potomac. 

This  charter  was  of  a  new  type,  for  both  the  land  and  the 
powers  of  government  were  transferred  to  Calvert  as  a  "pro- 
prietary"; and  he  had  authority  to  make  laws  for  the  colony, 
provided  the  freemen  of  the  colony  assented.  Although  not 
distinctly  so  stated  in  the  charter,  it  was  understood  that 
Catholics  would  be  allowed  in  the  province ;  and  in  1634  a  body 
of  colonists,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  settled  first  at  St. 
Marys  and  then  elsewhere.  The  Calvert  family  was  rich 
and  powerful,  and  sent  out  many  emigrants;  the  soil  was  fer- 
tile, tobacco  growing  soon  became  the  main  industry,  and 
slaves  were  introduced. 

In  an  early  contest  with  the  proprietor  the  assembly  success- 
fully asserted  its  right  to  initiate — that  is,  to  propose  —  laws. 
The  most  significant  statute  was  the  Toleration  Act  of  1649, 
which  distinctly  declared  that  "no  person  .  .  .  professing  to 


50  European  Colonization 

believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  from  henceforth  be  anywaies 
molested,  or  discountenanced  ...  for  his  religion  nor  in  the  free 
exercise  thereof."  Under  this  act,  neither  Catholics  nor  Prot- 
estants could  be  persecuted  for  their  faith.  Protestant  settlers 
were  already  outnumbering  the  Catholics,  and  with  the  arrival 
of  new  settlers  the  colony  speedily  became  distinctly  Prot- 
estant in  feeling. 

35.   CONNECTICUT  AND  NEW  HAVEN  (1635-1660) 

South  of  Massachusetts  was  a  belt  of  country  which  at- 
tracted the  Dutch  and  the  Plymouth  people,  both  of  'whom 
built  forts  on  the  Connecticut  River.  In  1635  a  little  settle- 
ment was  made  at  Saybrook,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The 
next  year  came  a  body  of  settlers  from  Massachusetts,  headed 
by  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  who  founded  the  towns  of  Hartford, 
Windsor,  and  Wethersfield  on  the  Connecticut  River  (map, 
page  52).  In  1639,  representatives  of  these  three  little  towns, 
feeling  the  need  of  a  common  government,  met  at  Hartford 
and  drew  up  .the  "Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut,"  the 
first  detailed  constitution  made  by  a  self-governing  American 
community  for  itself. 

Meantime,  the  colony  of  New  Haven  was  forming  in  like 
manner  out  of  separate  communities.  The  town  of  New  Haven 
was  founded  in  1638  by  Theophilus  Eaton  and  Rev.  John 
Davenport.  In  1643  it  united  with  several  other  little  towns 
in  a  common  colonial  assembly. 

Both  colonies  were  founded  among  warlike  Indians.  The 
Pequot  tribe  grew  threatening,  as  they  saw  their  hunting 
grounds  invaded  by  the  English.  Captain  John  Mason,  of 
Connecticut,  with  90  armed  white  men  and  400  Narragansetts, 
attacked  the  Pequots  not  far  from  the  present  Stonington, 
Connecticut,  and  stormed  their  fort  (1637).  As  the  chron- 
icler puts  it,  "Downe  fell  men,  women,  and  children,  those 
that  scaped  us,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  that  were 
in  the  reere  of  us  ...  not  above  five  of  them  escaped  out 


Rhode  Island,  Maine,  and  New  Hampshire     51 

of  our  hands."  This  cruel  and  merciless  massacre  terrified 
the  remnants  of  the  tribe  and  gave  peace  for  nearly  forty 
years. 

36.   RHODE  ISLAND,  MAINE,  AND  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

(1623-1652) 

~(i)  Neither  Connecticut  nor  New  Haven  had  any  authority 
from  the  Crown  to  carry  on  a  colony ;  and  another  settle- 
ment was  made  on  the  same  terms,  or  rather,  lack  of  terms,  in 
Rhode  Island.  This  colony  was  founded  by  Roger  Williams,  a 
Massachusetts  minister  who  took  it  upon  himself  to  deny  the 
right  of  any  government  to  prescribe  religious  belief  for  its  citi- 
zens. He  was  therefore  banished  from  Massachusetts  (1636), 
and  betook  himself  to  the  wilderness  of  Narragansett  Bay,  where 
he  secured  land  from  the  Indians  and  founded  the  town  of 
Providence.  Soon  after,  he  still  further  antagonized  Massa- 
chusetts by  joining  the  Baptist  Church,  which  was  then  bitterly 
persecuted  both  in  England  and  in  the  colonies.  Other  little 
towns  were  founded  at  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  and  with 
Providence  they  secured  an  English  patent  (1644)  under  which 
they  governed  themselves  and  elected  a  common  assembly  and 
governor.  Emigrants  gathered  and  the  little  community  called 
Rhode  Island  became  prosperous,  although  heartily  disliked  by 
its  neighbors. 

(2)  North  of  Massachusetts,  one  Ferdinando  Gorges  tried  to 
build  up  a  colony  in  what  is  now  Maine,  but  this  territory  was 
annexed  by  Massachusetts  in  1652. 

(3)  Farther  south  in   the  region  north  of   the  Merrimack, 
several  little  towns  were  founded  at  Dover,  Exeter,  and  else- 
where, from  1623  to  1638.      For  a  time  they  had  a  govern- 
ment in  common,  something  like  that  of  Rhode  Island ;    then 
the  people  became  a  part  of  Massachusetts;    and  finally  they 
received  a  government  of  their  own  under  the  name  of  New 
Hampshire. 


52  European  Colonization 

37.  EFFECT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR  IN  ENGLAND  (1642-1655) 
The  stream  of  immigrants  into  New  England  was  suddenly 
checked  in  1642  by  the  breaking  out  of  war  between  King 
Charles  I  and  the  Puritans  who  had  control  of  Parliament. 
In  1649,  the  Parliamentary  army  under  Oliver  Cromwell  be- 
came the  virtual  government  of  England,  and  Charles  I  was 
executed  by  the  Puritans.  The  Independents,  who  had  about 
the  same  religious  belief  as  the  New  England  Congregationalists, 
came  into  control  and  supported  Cromwell  till  his  death  in  1658. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION. 

The  colonists  were  left  mostly  to  themselves  during  the  civil 
war,  and  in  1643  the  four  colonies  of  New  Haven,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  Plymouth  formed  a  federal  union  under 
written  "Articles  of  Confederation."  The  visible  government 
was  made  up  of  two  commissioners  from  each  colony,  meeting 
from  time  to  time.  This  New  England  Confederation  existed 


Religion  in  New  England  53 

for  more  than  forty  years  and  was  very  helpful  to  New  England. 
It  kept  the  Dutch  in  check,  fought  the  Indians,  and  was  inter- 
ested in  the  general  improvement  of  the  colonies.  Its  consti- 
tution was  so  good  that  traces  of  it  can  be  found  in  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States. 

Cromwell  did  not  interfere  with  the  New  England  colonies, 
but  he  sent  a  fleet  (1652)  which  compelled  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia to  accept  the  authority  of  the  Puritan  Parliament.  He  was 
the  first  ruler  of  England  to  lay  down  a  commercial  policy  for 
the  protection  of  trade  with  the  English  colonies;  in  1651  he 
secured  the  first  "Navigation  Act,"  which  was  intended  to  cut 
down  Dutch  trade. 

Cromwell  also  saw  the  importance  of  reducing  the  colonial 
power  of  Holland  and  of  Spain.  He  compelled  the  Dutch  to 
withdraw  from  the  Connecticut  valley,  and  in  1655  his  fleet 
captured  the  island  of  Jamaica  from  the  Spaniards,  and  it  has 
ever  since  remained  English.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
break-up  of  the  Spanish  American  empire. 

38.   RELIGION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  (1620-1660) 

Considering  that  so  many  of  the  New  England  colonists 
came  over  in  order  to  have  the  privilege  of  worshiping  God 
according  to  their  own  consciences,  it  is  remarkable  how  un- 
willing they  were  that  other  people  should  worship  God  accord- 
ing to  their  consciences.  Massachusetts  made  it  a  point  to 
repress  those  who  differed  from  the  established  Congregational 
Church  or  criticized  the  clergy.  In  1636  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchin- 
son  of  Boston  and  others  —  the  so-called  "  Antinomians "  - 
held  women's  meetings  to  discuss  and  to  dissect  the  latest  ser- 
mons. She  was  put  on  trial,  not  for  establishing  the  first 
Woman's  Club  in  the  country,  but  for  heresy.  Notwithstand- 
ing a  valiant  defense  in  which  she  had  the  better  of  her  judges, 
she  was  dismissed  from  the  church  and  sent  into  exile. 

The  same  illiberal  spirit  was  shown  toward  the  English  sect 
called  Quakers,  founded  (1648)  by  George  Fox  as  a  protest 


54  European  Colonization 

against  religious  ceremonies  and  control.  The  Quakers,  or 
Friends,  used  plain  speech,  were  rigid  in  their  customs,  had  no 
regular  ministers,  and  would  not  take  oaths  or  use  force,  even 
in  defense  of  their  country.  Though  a  folk  of  singularly  blame- 
less lives,  they  were  harassed  in  England.  When  two  God- 
fearing Quaker  women  reached  Boston,  their  doctrines  were 
officially  declared  to  be  "heretical,  blasphemous,  and  devilish." 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Plymouth,  as  well  as  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  hastened  to  pass  laws  for  the  severe  punish- 
ment of  Quakers  and  "ranters."  From  1659  to  1661  four  of 
them  were  executed  in  Boston.  The  Quaker  episode  is  a  proof 
that  the  good  and  pure  principles  of  the  Puritans  did  not  keep 
the  community  from  tyranny  and  stupid  cruelty.  The  Quakers 
neither  harmed  nor  seriously  threatened  the  good  order  of  the 
colonists ;  they  were  persecuted  because  they  ventured  to  differ 
from  the  usual  religious  and  political  practices. 

39.   REVIEW 

Six  European  powers  gained  a  footing  in  America:  Spain, 
Portugal,  France,  Holland,  Sweden,  and  England.  Germany 
was  too  exhausted  by  religious  wars  to  take  part  in  the  contest 
for  the  New  World. 

The  Spaniards  held  most  of  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies  and 
the  coasts  of  North  and  South  America,  and  easily  overcame  the 
opposing  Indians.  The  Portuguese  were  satisfied  to  hold  Brazil, 

The  French,  against  English  protests,  sought  the  St.  Law- 
rence region  because  of  the  valuable  fur  trade.  Their  first  great 
explorer,  Champlain,  fought  against  the  Iroquois. 

The  Dutch  made  settlements  on  the  Connecticut,  Hudson, 
and  Delaware  rivers.  The  Swedes  settled  on  the  lower  Dela- 
ware, but  their  little  colony  was  soon  annexed  by  the  Dutch. 
Between  the  French  and  the -Dutch  lay  the  warlike  Five  Nations, 
to  avoid  whom  the  French  used  the  Ottawa  River  route  to  Lake 
Huron ;  and  so  discovered  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior. 

An  English  colony  was  founded  by  the  London  Company  at 


References  53 

Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  1607.  One  man,  Captain  John  Smith, 
showed  himself  a  natural  leader.  In  1619  the  first  popular  As- 
sembly met;  but  in  1624  the  Virginia  charter  was  taken  away. 

The  first  settlement  in  the  region  called  New  England  was  that 
of  the  Pilgrims,  who  came  to  Plymouth  in  1620  and  set  up  a  little 
colony.  Massachusetts,  planted  in  1630,  quickly  developed 
a  popular  government.  Maryland  was  settled  by  Lord  Balti- 
more, a  Catholic  nobleman,  but  numerous  Protestants  also 
came  in.  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  Rhode  Island,  and  New 
Hampshire  were  four  little  Puritan  colonies  built  up  without 
any  charter.  Settlements  in  Maine  did  not  prosper. 

During  the  civil  war  in  England,  four  of  the  colonies  formed 
a  New  England  Confederation  (1643).  Cromwell  captured 
the  island  of  Jamaica  (1655),  and  this  was  the  first  inroad 
on  the  Spanish  empire.  The  Puritans  soon  found  themselves 
troubled  by  those  who  disagreed  with  the  majority  on  religious 
matters,  and  severely  treated  the  Antinomians  and  Quakers. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  n,  20,  40,  43,  49,  52.  —  Avery, 
U.S.,  II.  —  Epoch  Maps,  no.  3.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  28,34.— 
Semple,  Geogr.  Conditions,  19-35.  —  Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  185,  189- 
193.  — Tyler,  England  in  Am. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.  S.,  chs.  iii,  iv.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  54- 
70,  80-119.  ~~  Bourne,  Spain  in  Am.,  chs.  xiii-xx.  —  Channing,  U.  S., 
I.  chs.  vi-xix.  —  Fiske,  Old  Va.,  I.  41-318;  Beginnings  of  New  Engl., 
50—198;  Dutch  and  Quaker  Cols.,  I.  80—242.  —  Innes,  New  Amsterdam. 
—  Parkman,  Pioneers,  pt.  iii;  Jesuits  in  Am.;  Old  Regime;  Pontiac, 
I.  7-28,  46-68.  — Thwaites,  Colonies,  §§  13,  18-22,  28-34,  48-68,  83, 
84,  108-110;  France  in  Am.,  chs.  i-iii. — Tyler,  England  in  Am. — 
Weeden,  New  Engl.,  I.  23-46;  Early  R.  I.,  chs.  i-iii.  —  Wilson,  Am. 
People,  I.  34-68,  74-218. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  7,  16,  25,  27,  29,  31,  36.  —  Bogart 
and  Thompson,  Readings,  i-n.  —  Caldwell,  Survey,  13,  29-32. — 
Golden,  Five  Indian  Nations.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  I.  §§  37-41, 
49-142  passim,  150-154,  158,  169-171;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  61- 
116;  Source  Book,  §§  5,  6,  8,  10,  13.  —  Higginson,  Am.  Explorers,  231- 
316. — James,  Readings,  §§8-14,  20. — Jameson,  Original  Narratives. 


56  European  Colonization 

—  MacDonald,  Select  Charters,  nos.  1-21.—  Old  South   Leaflets,   nos. 
7,  8,  48-51,  53-55,  66,  69,  77,  87,  91,  93,  94,  96,  121,  142,  143,  153,  154, 
164,  167-170,  176,  178,  207.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc., 
Hist.  Sotirces,  §§  69-71 ;   Syllabus,  297-305,  309,  310. 

Illustrative.     Austin,  Standish  of  Standish;  Betty  Alden  (Plymouth). 

—  Child,     Hobomok    (Plymouth).  —  Cooke,    My    Lady     Pokahontas ; 
Stories  of  the  Old  Dominion,  1-64.  — Curtis,  Indian  Days  of  Long  Ago. — 
Dix,  Christopher  Ferringham  (Quaker).  —  Doyle,  Refugees  (Canada). — 
Eastman,  Indian  Boyhood.  —  Hawthorne,     Maypole    of  Merry  Mount; 
Endicott  and    the  Red  Cross;    The  Gentle  Boy  (Quakers);  Grandfather's 
Chair,  pt.  i,  chs.  i-vii.  —  Holland,  Bay  Path   (Connecticut). — John- 
ston, To   Have  and  to   Hold    (Va.).  —  Longfellow,   Courtship  of  Miles 
Standish  ;  John  Endicott.  —  Motley,  Merry  Mount.  —  Paulding,  Konigs- 
marke   (Swedes).  —  Stedman,  Peter  Stuyvesant's   New    Year's    Call.  — 
Stimson,    King    Noanett    (Mass,    and  Va.). — Tenney,    Constance   of 
Acadia.  —  Thruston,  Mistress  Brent  (Md.).  —  Whittier,  John  Underhill; 
The  Exiles;  Banished  from  Massachusetts;  King's  Missive. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  II.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  I.  —  Winsor, 
America,  III,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Why  did  Spain  grow  weaker  after  1604?  [§  24]  —  (2)  Adven- 
tures of  Champlain.  [§  26]  —  (3)  Early  accounts  of  New  Amsterdam. 
[§  27]  —  (4)  Early  explorations  of  one  of  the  following  lakes:  Huron; 
Michigan;  Superior.  [§  29]  —  (5)  Why  was  there  such  loss  of  life  in 
the  early  English  colonies?  [§  30]  —  (6)  Adventures  of  Captain  John 
Smith.  [§  30]  —  (7)  Tobacco  planting  in  Virginia.  [§  31]  —  (8)  Early 
accounts  of  one  of  these  colonies:  Virginia  [§  30];  Plymouth  [§  32]; 
Massachusetts  Bay  [§  33];  Connecticut.  [§  35]  —  (9)  Was  there  real 
religious  toleration  in  Maryland?  [§  34] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  The  Pueblo  Indians  as  the  Spaniards  found  them.  [§  25]  — 
(n)  The  Pueblo  Indians  to-day.  [§  25]  — (12)  Why  were  the  Five 
Nations  so  important?  [§  28]  — •  (13)  Catholic  missions  in  the  Great 
Lakes  region.  [§  29]  —  (14)  What  was  meant  by  "  up  into  the  Land 
throughout  from  Sea  to  Sea,  West  and  Northwest"  ?  [§  30]  —  (15)  Was 
the  Pequot  War  justified?  [§  35]  —  (16)  What  did  the  New  England 
Confederation  accomplish?  [§  37]  —  (17)  Was  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson 
justly  condemned?  [§  38]  —  (18)  Why  were  the  Quakers  so  unpopu- 
lar? [§  38] 


CHAPTER  IV 

ENGLISH   COLONIZATION   AFTER  1660 
40.   THE  TAKING  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND 

IN  1660  peace  and  union  came  back  to  England  under  the 
"Restoration"  of  Charles  II  as  king,  and  the  nation  entered 
on  a  new  career  of  conquest  and  colonization,  both  in  the 


WATER  FRONT  OF  NEW  YORK  IN  1673.     (Drawing  by  Hugo  Allard.) 

eastern  and  in  the  western  hemisphere.  By  creating  the  East 
India  Company  (1660),  the  English  laid  the  foundation  of  an 
empire  in  India  and  Ceylon  in  opposition  to  the  Portuguese, 
Dutch,  and  French.  In  the  west,  their  colonies  were  already 
far  stronger  than  the  Dutch  possessions. 
S7 


58  English  Colonization  after  1660 

New  Netherland  was  a  feeble  and  ill-managed  commercial 
community,  numbering  less  than  10,000  Europeans.  The  Dutch 
West  India  Company,  which  controlled  the  colony,  was  chiefly 
interested  in  the  Indian  fur  trade.  Contentions  arose  between 
the  company  and  the  settlers ;  and  the  last  of  the  Dutch 
governors,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  found  that  he  had  little  means 
of  defense  for  the  colony  and  no  intelligent  support. 

On  the  basis  of  vague  claims  upon  the  whole  Atlantic  coast, 
King  Charles  II  granted  the  region  occupied  by  the  Dutch  to 
his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York.  A  fleet  was  sent  out  to  which 
the  little  town  of  New  Amsterdam  surrendered  (Aug.  29,  1664). 
The  rest  of  the  colony  fell  without  a  blow ;  and  the  name  New 
York  was  applied  to  the  former  New  Netherland.  During  a 
later  war  with  England,  a  Dutch  fleet  occupied  the  place  for 
a  few  months  in  1673  ;  but  from  that  time  on,  the  Dutch  never 
held  any  territory  in  America,  except  a  little  settlement  on  the 
north  coast  of  South  America  and  some  small  islands  in  the 
West  Indies. 

41.   CHARTERS  AND  COLONIES  IN  THE  NORTH   (1662-1665) 

The  taking  of  New  York  was  part  of  a  systematic  policy  for 
the  colonization  of  the  whole  coast  from  Maine  southward.  In 
fact,  the  greater  part  of  Maine  was  included  in  the  grant  to  the 
Duke  of  York,  but  it  was  eventually  bought  for  a  second  time 
by  Massachusetts  (§  36). 

The  king  smiled  upon  Connecticut  (§  35),  and  in  1662  granted 
to  it  a  favorable  charter  —  the  first  and  last  charter  that  the 
colony  ever  had  —  with  bounds  extending  to  the  South  Sea. 
New  Haven  was  incorporated  into  Connecticut,  as  punishment 
for  harboring  two  of  the  "  regicides  "  who  had  condemned  Charles 
I  to  death  (§  37).  Rhode  Island  (§  36)  also  received  a  charter 
in  1663,  giving  it  about  its  present  boundaries  and  a  liberal 
government  with  an  elective  governor.  Plymouth  received  no 
charter,  but  was  allowed  to  remain  separate  nearly  thirty  years 
longer. 


Charters  and  Colonies  in  the  North 


59 


Even  before  the  Duke  of  York  got  possession  of  his  magnifi- 
cent proprietary  domain,  he  began  to  cut  it  up  into  smaller 
provinces.  In  1664  he  granted  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret  the  tract 
between  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Delaware,  and  they  called  it 
Nova  Caesarea  —  which  is,  in  English,  plain  New  Jersey. 
Ten  years  later  the  new  province  was  divided  into  East  New 
Jersey  and  West  New  Jersey.  The  rich  soil  and  the  ease  of 
access  speedily  attracted  population ;  a  contemporary  said, 
"  'Tis  far  cheaper  living  there  for  Eatables  than  here  in  England ; 
and  either  men  or  Women  who  have  a  Trade,  or  are  laborers, 
can,  if  industrious,  get  near  three  times  the  Wages  they  com- 
monly earn  in  England."  The  Quakers  fixed  their  attention  on 
the  Jerseys.  Two  of  them,  Fenwick  and  Byllynge,  gained  con- 
trol of  West  Jersey,  and  many  Quakers  settled  there.  Then  a 
body  of  proprietors, 
including  William 
Penn,  secured  both 
the  Jerseys. 

Through  these  vari- 
ous changes,  by  1665 
,  the  English  govern- 
ment had  recognized 
in  the  coast  region 
east  oi  the  Delaware 
River  (i)  the  three 
charter  colonies  of 
Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, and  Rhode 
Island ;  (2)  the  pro- 
prietary colonies  of 
New  York  and  New 
Jersey;  (3)  the  un- 


LA.VDS  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  YORK.     (With  dates 
of  cession  of  outlying  portions.) 


chartered  or  irregular  settlements  of  New  Hampshire,  Plymouth, 
and  Maine,  the  last  two  of  which  eventually  were  absorbed  by 
neighbors. 


6o 


English  Colonization  after  1660 


42.  ORGANIZATION  OF  NEW  YORK  COLONY  (1664-1686) 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  fit  the  new  territory  and  colony  of 
New  York  into  the  general  English  system.     In  the  first  place, 

the  territorial  grant  was  clumsy 
and  conflicted  with  previous 
charters.  The  Duke  of  York's 
grant  extended  to  the  Con- 
necticut River,  though  both 
the  Massachusetts  charter  of 
1629  and  the  recent  Connec- 
ticut charter  of  1662  granted 
to  those  colonies  strips  of  terri- 
tory as  far  west  as  the  Pacific ; 
that  is,  directly  across  New 
York.  The  boundary  between 
New  York  and  Connecticut 
was  soon  agreed  on,  but  that 
between  New  York  and  Massa- 
chusetts remained  unsettled 
for  more  than  a  hundred 
years. 

To  govern  the  colony  of 
New  York,  the  Duke  sent  out 
Governor  Nicolls.  He  found 
many  Dutch  in  the  Hudson 
valley,  a  few  Swedes  west  of 
the  Delaware,  and  some  New 
Englanders  in  Long  Island.  As  the  Duke  did  not  desire  anything 
like  popular  government,  Nicolls  drew  up  a  code  called  "The 
Duke's  Laws."  Some  of  the  towns  vainly  tried  to  join  Con- 
necticut. Nicolls  gave  a  charter  to  the  city  of  New  York  in 
1665,  the  officials  of  which,  however,  were  to  be  appointed. 
A  later  governor,  Dongan,  in  1686  was  authorized  to  call  an 
elective  assembly.  Dongan  also  granted  to  New  York  and 


KNGLISH  OFFICER  IN  UNIFORM, 
1664. 


Scheme  for  a  New  England  Colony  61 

to  Albany  city  charters  with  elective  aldermen.  These  were 
the  first  popular  city  governments  to  be  created  in  the  New 
World. 

43.   SCHEME  FOR  A  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONY  (1685-1689) 

Massachusetts  was  looked  upon  as  an  insubordinate  colony 
which  must  be  disciplined.  During  the  civil  wars  in  England, 
the  colonial  government  had  acted  like  an  independent  republic, 
even  venturing  to  coin  silver  "pine-tree  shillings"  —  a  great 
presumption  for  a  colony.  Under  strong  pressure  from  Eng- 
land, the  colony  grudgingly  repealed  its  harsh  and  brutal  laws 
against  the  Quakers,  allowed  services  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  admitted  others  than  Congregationalists  to  the  suffrage. 

New  troubles  arose  because  immediately  after  the  Restoration 
the  English  government  put  into  operation  a  system  of  "Acts 
of  Trade,"  or  Navigation  Acts,  already  begun  under  Cromwell 
(§  37)-  Their  prime  purpose  was  to  prevent  the  Dutch  from 
carrying  on  a  profitable  trade  with  English  colonies  in  the  West 
Indies  and  the  mainland.  They  provided  that  most  of  the  trade 
of  the  colonies  should  be  with  England,  and  that  colonial  trade 
with  England  should  be  transported  only  in  English  or 
colonial  vessels.  To  carry  out  these  laws  (1660,  1663,  1673) 
customhouses  were  set  up  in  the  colonies,  and  very  low  duties 
were  laid  on  imported  goods;  the  customhouse  formality 
made  it  possible  for  the  British  government  to  keep  track  of  the 
vessels  arriving  and  departing. 

The  Acts  of  Trade,  often  called  the  "Colonial  System," 
gave  many  advantages  to  colonial  shipbuilders,  but  were 
usually  disregarded  by  all  the  colonies,  and  particularly  by 
Massachusetts.  For  this  and  other  offenses  the  English 
government  made  up  its  mind  to  punish  that  colony  by  taking 
away  the  charter.  Much  the  same  method  was  followed  as  in 
the  case  of  Virginia  in  1624  (§  31).  An  English  court  held  that 
the  Massachusetts  people  had  violated  their  charter  and  that, 
therefore,  it  was  no  longer  binding  on  the  Crown  (1684). 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  5 


02  English  Colonization  after  1660 

The  colony  had  recently  suffered  from  the  devastation  of  an 
Indian  outbreak,  commonly  called  King  Philip's  War  (1675), 
in  which  most  of  the  frontier  towns  were  destroyed.  When  in 
1685  the  Duke  of  York  became  King  James  II,  he  set  out  to 
consolidate  all  the  New  England  colonies  into  one  group.  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  was  appointed  to  carry  out  this  plan  under,  a 
commission  as  governor-general  of  the  Dominion  of  New 
England.  The  weak  colonies  of  Plymouth  and  Rhode  Island 
yielded.  Connecticut  refused  to  give  up  its  charter  and, 
according  to  tradition,  the  document  was  hidden  in  a  hollow 
oak  tree  in  Hartford.  Nevertheless,  the  scheme  would  have 
succeeded  but  for  the  breakdown  of  King  James  in  England, 
which  will  be  discussed  further  on. 

44.   THE  SOUTHERN  COLONIES  (1663-1729) 

South  of  the  James  River  several  small  settlements  were  made 
on  Albemarle  Sound  and  the  Chowan  River  by  wanderers 
from  Virginia,  from  New  England,  and  from  the  West  Indies. 
In  1663  England  incorporated  this  region  with  her  dominions 
in  North  America,  by  granting  to  a  body  of  eight  noble  propri- 
etors, land  for  a  new  colony  of  Carolina  (named  for  Charles  II). 
The  first  Carolina  patent  extended  from  the  3ist  to  the  36th 
degree  of  north  latitude,  and  west  to  the  South  Sea.  In  1665,  a 
second  patent  added  strips  of  territory  southward  to  the  2gth 
degree,  and  northward  to  36°  30'. 

The  English  philosopher  John  Locke  was  requested  by  the 
proprietors  to  draw  up  a  ''Fundamental  Constitution"  often 
called  "The  Grand  Model,"  which  was  to  establish  a  kind  of 
feudal  system  in  Carolina.  This  constitution  never  went  into 
effect;  instead,  a  popular  assembly  was  organized  (1669)  and 
governors  were  sent  out  by  the  proprietors. 

A  settlement  was  made  on  the  Ashley  River  (1670),  which 
developed  into  the  town  of  Charleston.  Around  it  the  colony 
of  South  Carolina  grew  up',  separated  by  many  miles  of  wilder- 
ness from  the  settlements  in  North  Carolina.  Scotch,  Quakers, 


The  Southern  Colonies  63 

and  Huguenots  came  in.     In  the  course  of  thirty  years  twenty 
thousand  people  gathered  in  the  two  Carolinas,  including  large 


CAROLINA  AND  GEORGIA  GRANTS. 

numbers  of  negroes ;  for  the  rice  plantations  of  South  Carolina 
gave  opportunity  for  profitable  slave  labor. 

Virginia  made  no  resistance  to  the  creation  of  Carolina, 
though  it  included  some  of  the  territory  which  had  been  assigned 
to  the  old  colony  in  the  charter  of  1609  (§  30).  During  this 
period  Virginia  was  steadily  gaining  in  population,  and  the 
chief  industry  was  still  tobacco  raising.  The  worst  Indian  war 


64  English  Colonization  after  1660 

for  half  a  century  caused  the  massacre  of  300  settlers.  A 
planter,  Nathaniel  Bacon,  took  the  lead  in  fighting  the  Indians, 
and  then  headed  an  insurrection  against  the  harsh  and  waste- 
ful government  of  the  royal  governor,  Sir  William  Berkeley. 
He  burned  Jamestown,  set  up  a  government  of  his  own  (1676), 

and  might  have  altered 
the  history  of  the  colony 
but  for  his  sudden  death 
and  the  consequent  melt- ' 
ing  away  of  his  party. 
To  one  of  the  rebels 
Berkeley  remarked,  "Mr. 
Drummond  !  you  are  very 
welcome.  I  am  more  glad 
to  see  you  than  any  man 
in  Virginia ;  you  shall  be 
hanged  in  half  an  hour." 
Drummond  and  thirty- 
five  others  were  executed. 
No  wonder  King  Charles  recalled  Berkeley  in  disgrace,  exclaim- 
ing, "That  old  fool  has  hanged  more  men  in  that  naked 
country  than  I  have  done  for  the  murder  of  my  father." 

Maryland  (§  34)  shared  in  the  tobacco  planting,  and  under  the 
easy  government  of  the  proprietary  family,  passed  successfully 
through  several  little  insurrections  which  long  plagued  the 
colony. 

45.   PENNSYLVANIA  AND  DELAWARE  (1681-1701) 

Notwithstanding  all  the  charters  and  grants  of  the  period 
from  1660  to  1680,  one  of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  New 
World  was  still  left  unoccupied.  This  was  the  broad  and 
diversified  country  west  of  the  Delaware  River,  in  which  the 
only  evidence  of  civilization  was  a  few  Swedish  and  Dutch 
settlements  along  the  river.  To  fill  up  this  gap,  and  thus  to 
complete  the  belt  of  coast  colonies,  a  royal  patent  was  issued  in 


BULL-PRINGLE  HOUSE,  CHARLESTON. 
(Built  about  1760.) 


Pennsylvanii  and  Delaware  65 

1681  to  William  Penn,  a  leading  Quaker,  for  a  colony  which 
was  named  by  the  king  in  compliment  to  Penn's  father 
"Pennsylvania."  The  province  was  to  extend  five  degrees  of 
longitude  westward  from  the  Delaware.  The  northern  part  of 


P(  EJ..N    N    S  -  Y     L    V    A<,N     I     /- 

i*       &-'  ?'''  K 

- 


PENNSYLVANIA  BOUNDARY  CONTROVERSY. 


the  grant  covered  territory  included  in  the  Connecticut  charter, 
which  was  nineteen  years  older ;  and  on  the  south  it  cut  into 
the  territory  of  Maryland,  which  was  forty-nine  years  older: 
so  that  Pennsylvania  came  into  existence  in  the  midst  of  several 
spirited  boundary  controversies,  which  were  not  settled  for 


WILLIAM  PENN.     (From  an  ivory 
by  Bevan.) 


66  English  Colonization  after  1660 

many  years.     In  addition,   the  territory  now  in  the  state  of 
Delaware  was  bought  by  Penn  from  the  Duke  of  York. 

As  in  Maryland  and  New  York,  the  ownership  of  the  land 
in  the  new  colony,  and  also  the  right  to  provide  a  govern- 
ment, were  put  in  the  hands 
of  a  proprietor.  Penn  sent 
over  many  colonists,  and  for 
a  time  made  his  own  home 
in  Pennsylvania.  He  saw  the 
desirability  of  a  popular  gov- 
ernment and  therefore  (1682) 
granted  what  he  called  the 
"  Frame  of  Government," 
which  was  practically  a  liberal 
constitution.  His  two  prin- 
ciples were  "First,  to  terrify 
evildoers  :  secondly,  to  cherish 
those  that  do  well ;  .  .  .  I  know  some  say,  let  us  have  good 
laws,  and  no  matter  for  the  men  that  execute  them:  but 
let  them  consider  that  though  good  laws  do  well,  good  men 
do  better."  A  city  government  was  set  up  for  Philadelphia, 
which  in  1691  received  a  charter  with  mayor  and  aldermen. 

Yet  even  in  this  elysium  the  settlers  were  discontented ;  they 
felt  that  the  proprietor  kept  too  much  for  himself,  and  they  began 
to  quarrel  with  the  governors.  In  1701  Penn  granted  a  new  plan 
of  government  called  the  "Charter  of  Privileges,"  in  which  the 
legislature  received  greater  powers.  At  Penn's  death  (1718),  he 
left  the  rights  and  dignity  of  his  proprietorship  to  his  children ; 
and  they  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  family  down  to  the 
Revolution. 

46.   COLONIAL  REORGANIZATION  (1689-1752) 

James  II  of  England  followed  the  example  of  his  father, 
Charles  I,  in  provoking  a  conflict  with  Parliament.  He  was  a 
Catholic,  and  many  of  his  subjects  invited  his  nephew,  the 


Colonial  Reorganization  67 

Protestant  William  III  of  Orange,  the  head  of  the  Dutch  nation, 
to  take  his  place.  James  fled  the  kingdom ;  and  in  February, 
1689,  the  two  houses  of  Parliament  declared  that  he  had 
abdicated  and  that  William  III  of  Orange  and  his  wife  Mary, 
James's  daughter,  were  lawful  king  and  queen  of  England. 
Under  them  and  their  successors  occurred  several  changes  in 
the  make-up  of  the  English  colonies. 

In  New  England,  Governor  Andros  (§  43)  was  deposed,  and 
the  three  main  colonies  were  formally  restored  to  the  old  sys- 
tem of  self-governing  charters.  Under  the  new  charter  given 
to  Massachusetts  (1691),  Maine  and  Plymouth  were  both 
included  without  objection  on  their  part.  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  continued  under  their  former  liberal  charters, 
and  were  the  only  communities  in  any  part  of  America  which 
were  allowed  to  elect  their  own  governors  (§  41).  New  Hamp- 
shire was  restored  as  a  separate  royal  "province"  —  that  is,  a 
colony  like  Virginia  without  any  charter ;  but  it  was  allowed  a 
considerable  degree  of  self-government  through  a  legislature  (§31). 
Thus  the  number  of  New  England  colonies  was  fixed  at  four. 

The  home  government  had  a  strong  prejudice  agains^  the 
proprietorships  of  the  middle  colonies.  New  York  was  turned 
into  a  royal  province  when  the  Duke  of  York  became  King 
James  II  in  1685.  For  a  short  time  under  William  III,  both 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  were  deprived  of  their  charters, 
but  eventually  they  were  given  back  to  the  Penn  and  Calvert 
families.  Delaware  became  a  separate  proprietary  colony,  no 
longer  a  part  of  Pennsylvania.  The  proprietors  of  the  Jerseys 
(§41)  gave  up  their  rights  in  1702,  and  those  two  colonies  were 
then  united  in  the  single  royal  province  of  New  Jersey.  In 
1729,  likewise,  the  Carolina  proprietors  (§  44)  surrendered 
their  claims,  and  thus  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  be- 
came royal  provinces. 

Stricter  navigation  acts  were  passed  (§  43)  and  a  board, 
called  the  Board  of  Trade,  was  created  in  England  to  act  as  a 
colonial  office  and  keep  in  touch  with  what  was  going  on. 


68  English  Colonization  after  1660 

More  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  founding  of  Virginia 
and  Massachusetts,  the  colony  of  Georgia  was  set  up  (1732)  under 
James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  a  man  of  philanthropic  spirit,  whose 
purpose  was  to  build  up  a  Christian  commonwealth  in  the 
New  World.  The  territory  granted  to  the  trustees  for  Georgia 
was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Savannah  River,  and  on 
the  south  by  the  Altamaha,  and  nominally  it  extended  west- 
ward across  the  continent  to  the  South  Sea,  in  defiance  of 
French  and  Spanish  claims.  The  first  settlement  was  made  at 
Savannah  in  1733.  Besides  colonists  from  England,  Protestant 
exiles  came  from  the  principality  of  Salzburg  in  the  Austrian 
Alps ;  and  German  Moravians,  Protestant  Scotch  Highlanders, 
and  Jews  soon  moved  in. 

The  three  fundamental  principles  of  the  new  colony  were 
that  slavery  should  not  be  permitted,  that  rum  should  be  ex- 
cluded, and  that  there  should  be  complete  religious  toleration. 
Still  the  colony  was  not  prosperous ;  the  colonists  insisted  on 
the  removal  of  restrictions  concerning  slavery  and  rum ;  and  the 
trustees,  disappointed  in  both  the  moral  and  the  pecuniary 
returns  for  their  investment,  surrendered  their  proprietorship 
to  the  home  government  (1752). 

47.   INTERNATIONAL  RIVALRIES 

The  progress  of  the  English  colonies  was  not  accepted  by 
either  France  or  Spain  as  a  permanent  thing.  The  Spaniards 
in  1670  made  a  treaty  which  acknowledged  the  existence  of 
the  English  colonies ;  but  they  began  to  attack  the  Caro- 
linas  almost  as  soon  as  the  little  settlements  were  planted.  By 
setting  up  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  (1670),  England  came 
into  a  new  rivalry  with  the  French  for  the  highly  valuable  fur 
trade  of  the  country  tributary  to  Hudson  Bay  (§  29).  New 
York  was  hemmed  in  by  the  Iroquois ;  but  the  territory  of 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas  extended  beyond  the 
Appalachian  Mountains  to  the  unknown  waters  of  the  in- 
terior, which  the  French  were  the  first  to  explore.  Sooner  or 


International  Rivalries  69 

later  there  was  bound  to  be  a  clash  over  the  possession  of 
the  splendid  country  west  of  the  mountains. 

By  the  year  1689,  the  decided  contrasts  in  the  governments 
and  the  Indian  policies  of  the  three  powers  were  clearly  shown. 
The  large  and  populous  Spanish  colonies  were  ruled  strictly  by 
governors  who  took  their  orders  from  Spain.  The  Indians 
under  Spanish  rule  were  little  better  than  slaves.  The  trade  of 
the  Spanish  colonies,  including  that  from  the  Philippine  Islands, 
was  a  monopoly  of  the  merchants  of  the  single  port  of  Seville ; 
and  their  commerce  was  regulated  by  a  royal  council  called 
the  Casa  dc  Contractacion,  or  "House  of  Trade."  Most  of  the 
export  and  import  business  was  concentrated  on  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama,  whence  year  after  year  for  more  than  two  centuries 
sailed  the  "plate  fleet"  which  carried  to  Spain  gold  and  silver, 
Asiatic  products,  and  colonial  exports.  In  comparison  with 
this  system  of  restriction,  the  English  navigation  acts  (§  43) 
were  mildness  itself. 

The  French  got  on  with  the  natives  better  than  any  other 
colonizing  people,  because  they  were  willing  to  meet  them  half- 
way. They  lived  on  terms  of  peace  and  almost  of  intimacy  with 
their  Indian  subjects,  and  many  French  frontiersmen  took 
squaw  wives.  Soon  arose  a  distinct  class  of  "coureurs  de 
bois "  —  white  men  and  half-breeds  who  had  adopted  the 
Indian  dress  and  manner  of  life.  Canada,  like  the  Spanish 
colonies,  was  governed  from  overseas.  It  was  substantially  a 
big  military  camp,  made  up  of  weak  little  settlements,  which 
existed  mainly  for  the  fur  trade ;  even  the  French  permanent 
colonists  were  chiefly  peasants,  who  had  no  ambition  for  self- 
government. 

The  English  despised  the  Indians,  and  sooner  or  later  killed 
off  the  tribes  or  drove  them  westward.  The  individual  colo- 
nists had  large  opportunities  for  making  a  living,  were  of  an  in- 
telligent class,  and  had  partial  self-government,  which  during 
such  thnes  as  the  English  civil  war  amounted  almost  to  inde- 
pendence. 


70  English  Colonization  after  1660 

48.  REVIEW 

After  the  civil  war  in  England,  the  monarchy  was  restored 
under  Charles  II,  and  his  government  decided  to  seize  the  Dutch 
colony  of  New  Netherland.  The  king  granted  to  his  brother, 
the  Duke  of  York,  the  country  between  the  Connecticut  and 
Delaware  rivers,  and  also  Maine.  The  Dutch  colony  was  easily 
taken  by  the  English,  and  renamed'  New  York.  The  new 
colony  was  governed  by  a  code  called  "The  Duke's  Laws." 

The  next  step  was  to  make  a  plan  for  a  New  England  colony, 
by  forcing  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  to 
give  up  their  charters  and  come  under  one  government.  Massa- 
chusetts was  weakened  by  King  Philip's  War,  lost  its  charter  in 
1684,  and  was  for  a  time  governed  by  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 

A  new  colony  was  chartered  south  of  Virginia  in  1663,  and 
was  later  subdivided  into  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina. 
Virginia  was  harassed  by  Indian  wars  which  led  to  the  short- 
lived Bacon  Rebellion  in  1676.  Another  new  colony  was 
Pennsylvania,  chartered  in  1681,  with  William  Penn,  a 
Quaker,  as  proprietor.  Delaware  was  added  to  it,  and  later 
separated.  Penn  drew  up  a  kind  of  constitution  called  the 
"Frame  of  Government,"  and  gave  a  charter  to  Philadelphia. 

The  downfall  of  James  II  in  1689  was  followed  by  various 
changes  in  the  colonies,  so  that  they  finally  numbered  twelve. 
A  thirteenth  colony,  Georgia,  was  founded  in  1732. 

Of  the  three  great  colonial  groups  that  were  planted  in 
America,  the  Spanish  colonies  were  governed  by  orders  from 
Spain,  and  their  trade  was  much  restricted.  The  French  had 
.little  local  government,  but  got  on  well  with  the  Indians.  The 
English  allowed  the  colonists  many  privileges  of  self-government, 
but  never  fraternized  with  the  Indians. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  59,  63,  65.  —  Andrews,  Col. 
Self-Govt.  —  Avery,  U.S.,  III.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  134.  —  Greene, 
Provincial  Am.,  6,  252.  — Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  190-193. 


References  and  Topics 


Secondary.  Ashe,  No.  Carolina,  I.  chs.  v-xvii.  —  Bassett,  U.  S.,  ch. 
v.  —  Bruce,  Oglethorpe.  —  Channing,  U.  S.,  II.  chs.  i-vii,  xii.  —  Fiske, 
Ke  ginnings  of  New  Engl.,  199-278;  Dutch  and  Quaker  Cols.,  I.  243-294, 
II.  1-61,  99-208;  Old  Va.,  II.  45-n6,  131-162,  270-308,333-336.— 
Mathevvs,  Expansion  of  New  Engl.,  ch.  iii.  —  McCrady,  So.  Carolina, 
I,  II.  chs.  i-v.  —  Sharpless,  Quaker  Experiment.  —  Wendell,  Cotton 
Mather,  21-87.  —  Wertenbaker,  Va.  under  the  Stuarts,  chs.  v-viii. 

Sources.  Am.  History  Leaflets,  no.  16.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson, 
Readings,  11-20.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  I.  §§  42,  43,  54,  70,  71,  76-81, 
104,  116,  121-126,  132-136,  155-157,  160-167,  172,  II.  §§39-44; 
Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  116-126,  134—147,  183-186;  Source  Book, 
§§  22-27.  — Jameson,  Original  Narratives.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Charters, 
nos.  24-49,  passim.  — Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  21,  22,  88,  95,  155,  171, 
172.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §§  70-72; 
Syllabus,  301,  310,  313. 

Illustrative.  Butterworth,  Wampum  Belt  (Penn.).  —  Bynner, 
Begum's  Daughter  (Leisler).  —  Catherwood,  Story  of  Tonty.  —  Cooper, 
Wept  of  Wish- Ton-Wish  (Philip);  Water  Witch  (N.Y.).  —  Goodwin, 
While  Aprons  (Bacon). — -Green,  Young  Pioneers  (La  Salle). — Haw- 
thorne, Gray  Champion  (Andros) ;  Grandfather's  Chair,  pt.  i,  chs.  viii, 
ix. — -Johnston,  Prisoners  of  Hope  (Bacon).  —  Kennedy,  Rob  of  the 
Bowl  (Md.).  —  Seton,  Charter  Oak.  —  Simms,  Cassique  of  Kiawah 
(S.C.).  —  Whittier,  Pa.  Pilgrim.  —  Wilkins,  Heart's  Highway  (Va.). 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  II,  III.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  1.  —  Winsor, 
America,  III,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Life  in  New  Amsterdam  about  1660.  [§  40]  —  (2)  Early  life 
in  New  Jersey.  [§  41]  —  (3)  History  of  "The  Duke's  Laws."  [§  42]  — 

(4)  Why   did   Locke's   "  Fundamental   Constitution  "    fail?    [§   44]  — 

(5)  Early  slavery  in  South  Carolina.  [§  44]  —  (6)  Life  of  William  Penn, 
down  to  i68i.[§45]  —  (7)  Plans  of  James  Oglethorpe.  [§  46]  —  (8)  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  to  1 750.  [§  47]  —  (9)  The  Spanish  "  plate  fleet."  [§  47] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  Story  of  the  early  British  East  India  Company.  [§  40]  — 
(n)  How  were  the  charters  obtained  for  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island?  [§  41]  —  (12)  Were  the  Acts  of  Trade  a  good  thing  for  the 
colonies?  [§  43]  —  (13)  Was  Sir  Edmund  Andros  a  tyrant?  [§  43]  — 
(14)  Was  Nathaniel  Bacon  a  patriot?  [§  44]  —  (15)  Boundary  between 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  [§  45]  —  (16)  Board  of  Trade.  [§  46]  — 
(17)  German  and  Moravian  colonists  in  Georgia.  [§  46] 


CHAPTER  V 

SOCIAL  AND   POLITICAL  LIFE   (1689-1763) 
49.   COLONIAL  POPULATION 

WE  are  interested  nowadays  in  the  development  of  the  Eng- 
lish colonies,  because  we  know  that  they  finally  came  together 
in  the  federal  Union  under  which  we  live.  The  colonists 
themselves  were  not  much  interested  in  their  own  history. 
They  lived  like  their  descendants,  from  one  day  to  another : 


BOSTON  IN  1722. 

going  to  church  —  some  of  them  going  to  prison, — building, 
working,  traveling,  fighting,  marrying,  and  dying. 

Everywhere  the  population  grew  rapidly.  Though  New  Eng- 
land received  hardly  any  direct  immigration  after  the  beginning 
of  the  English  civil  war  (§  37),  by  1700  it  had  about  105,000 
inhabitants.  The  southern  colonies  (Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
the  Carolinas)  together  had  about  110,000;  the  middle  col- 
72 


Colonial  Home  Life  73 

onies  (New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware), 
55,000;  making  a  total  of  about  270,000  people.  The  largest 
towns  were  Boston,  with  about  7000  people,  and  Philadelphia, 
with  4000.  By  1763,  the  population  had  grown  to  about 
1,770,000,  of  which  the  New  England  group  contained  about 
510,000,  the  middle  group  460,000,  and  the  southern  group 
(including  Georgia  in  addition  to  the  earlier  southern  colonies) 
about  800,000.  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston,  the 
only  large  towns  down  to  1763,  varied  from  15,000  to  20,000 
people  each. 

Many  races  combined  to  make  up  this  population,  but  it  is 
now  impossible  to  know  how  many  there  were  of  each,  except 
in  the  case  of  the  negroes.  In  every  colony  the  largest  element 
was  of  English  descent.  There  may  have  been  25,000  descend- 
ants of  Dutchmen  in  New  York  and  on  the  Delaware  in  1700. 
A  few  Swedes  and  Finns  (§  27)  still  remained  on  that  river, 
and  a  small  Swedish  immigration  continued  there.  A  few 
Huguenots  could  be  found  in  almost  all  the  colonies,  and  they 
were  numerous  in  South  Carolina.  The  negroes  in  1700  were 
about  46,000,  and  in  1763  had  increased  to  perhaps  300,000. 
The  Indians  had  nowhere  fused  with  the  white  population,  and 
were  not  considered  members  of  the  community. 

The  two  most  important  non-English  races  were  the  Ger- 
mans and  the  Protestant  Scotch-Irish,  to  whom  may  be  added 
some  Catholic  Irish  and  some  Scotch  Highlanders.  The  Ger- 
mans —  nearly  all  of  them  Protestants  —  came  mostly  from 
the  Rhine  region,  with  a  few  from  Austria ;  most  of  them  lived 
in  Pennsylvania,  a  few  in  Maryland,  Georgia,  and  central 
New  York.  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  about  100,000 
in  number  in  1763.  The  Scotch-Irish  were  about  125,000,  and 
most  of  them  lived  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia. 

50.   COLONIAL  HOME  LIFE 

The  greater  part  of  the  colonists  lived  in  easily  constructed 
log  houses.  In  New  England  there  were  many  frame  buildings, 


74  Social  and  Political  Life 

clapboarded  or  shingled.     In  the  towns  and  in  the  Dutch  and 

German  villages,  there  were  more  substantial  houses  of  brick. 
Among  the  poor  families,  the  rude 
furniture  was  hardly  more  than  floor, 
seats,  and  tables,  all  made  of  "punch- 
eons," —  that  is,  of  split  halves  of  small 
tree  trunks, — with  a  few  pewter  dishes, 
a  fireplace,  and  its  utensils.  The  better 
houses  had  substantial  oaken  chests, 
chairs,  and  tables,  and  handsome 
clocks. 

In  dress  our  well-to-do  forefathers 
followed  as  closely  as  they  could  the 
English  fashions  of  elaborate  suits  of 
cloth  or  velvet  or  silk,  and  full-bottomed 
wigs.  The  most  common  materials  were 

homespun  linen  and  woolen,  though  on  the  frontier  deer-skin 

was  used. 

Food   abounded :    game   wandered   in   and   out   of   all   the 


GERMAN  (MORAVIAN) 
EARTHENWARE  STOVE. 


A  HAND  LOOM. 


Colonial  Education  75 

settlements,  shellfish  were  abundant,  and  the  Xevv  England  coast 
fisheries  provided  a  regular  supply  of  salt  fish ;  Indian  corn 
was  grown  everywhere,  and  there  was  plenty  of  wheat  flour. 

The  colonies  were  swept  by  diseases,  chiefly  due  to  igno- 
rance and  uncleanliness,  such  as  " ship-fever,"  "small  pocks," 
"yellow  fever,"  "break-bone  fever,"  "fever  and  ague,"  and 
other  varieties  of  malaria ;  and  medical  practice  was  lamentably 
unskillful. 

51.   COLONIAL  EDUCATION 

Though  England  was  a  land  with  numerous  town  schools 
and  several  world-famous  universities,  some  of  the  colonies  in 
America,  broken  up  into  separate  and  widely  distributed  plan- 
tations, could  not  maintain  many  schools.  Governor  Berkeley 
reported  (1671)  for  Virginia:  "I  thank  God  there  are  no  free 
schools  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hun- 
dred years ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience,  and  heresy, 
and  sects  in  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and 
libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from  both." 
The  New  England  towns  established  the  first  schools  in  north- 
eastern America,  though  closely  followed  by  the  Collegiate 
School  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  New  Amsterdam 
(1633).  The  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  showed  its  interest 
in  education  by  requiring  that  every  town  of  fifty  families 
should  maintain  a  school,  and  every  town  of  a  hundred  families, 
a  grammar  school  (that  is,  a  Latin  school) ;  but  the  towns  too 
frequently  avoided  the  responsibility  if  they  could,  and  no 
public  education  was  provided  for  the  girls.  In  1689  the  Penn 
Charter  School  was  founded  in  Philadelphia. 

Three  small  colleges  provided  higher  education  for  the  col- 
onies. Harvard  College,  named  from  the  Rev.  John  Harvard, 
its  earliest  private  benefactor,  was  founded  (1636)  "to  advance 
learning  and  perpetuate  it  to  posterity."  From  the  beginning 
it  trained  the  ministers,  and  also  had  as  students  future  men 
of  affairs  and  statesmen.  William  and  Mary  College  was  es- 


76  Social  and  Political  Life 

tablished  in  Virginia  (1693) ;  King  William  III,  the  colony, 
and  private  subscribers  united  to  give  the  college  a  home  in 
Williamsburg.  Yale  College  was  "first  concerted  by  the 
ministers"  (1701),  and  its  earliest  property  was  forty  volumes 
given  by  the  founders  for  a  library.  The  college  was  soon  re- 
moved from  Saybrook  to  New  Haven,  and  (1718)  received  its 
name  from  Elihu  Yale,  a  public-spirited  Englishman  who 
interested  himself  in  the  new  institution. 

52.   COLONIAL  LITERATURE 

Among  all  the  colonizing  races  could  be  found  men  of  learn- 
ing: Puritan  divines,  like  Increase  Mather  and  Jonathan 
Edwards ;  Dutch  schoolmasters,  such  as  Dominie  Bogardus ; 
German  ministers  and  literary  men,  such  as  Pastorius  and 
Christopher  Sower.  One  of  the  earliest  historical  writings  was 
Beverly's  History  of  Virginia  (1705).  In  addition,  the  English 
books  of  the  time  were  read  and  admired  in  the  colonies. 

The  most  notable  colonial  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
were  the  discoverers,  explorers,  and  colonists  who  wrote  en- 

The  Bof  ton  News-LetterT" 


April   17.  :o  fttoltta?   April  -j 


«°  ***•  '  **'  .  FJ?m  * 

,.  £"i.ff"*e  rratl1  "«»•  otfrwifc  they  would    rvcc 

Ttw»  J*»«.  o*  u>  the  C"Pr  of  be  fu  ..Bpudrnt  ;  &<*  he  g*r,  Reafopi  lor  hii  Ap. 

*  Skctr  lauljl  PriotcJ  iKtrc.  Jniitul.d.    *  f^htr-ti^nht,  the  f>«K*  V.ing  may  fmd  Troop. 

f.,/~H,  y&m/m  Uoc'.^i    *  '  I"'"  «^*«  J>'«  Wmtrr,  t  .  BccuKr  thr  t^f,  «  t>«d> 

,/,;.,  o,«S«  »  .^  cw,w  b>r«W  «  «UI  o«  thrn  be  «  Sc»  to  opf-(..  ,v;,  m*  /  ,.  Hf  «„: 

J—  '»/*  CM./U.  t-«n«--,  »L7»/«."  "«.-"  •'"nVil  (jure  thcnv  ihe  Swlon  a  AQion  tx-yool  , 
tmiiftlx  f.urteot  *&!>•*•  .  N:uig  over.  ».  Thr  Expraaion  given  hin'  of  «. 

'  ['  '"  c.'nWcrJblc  number  tojoyn  then.,  may  incwirage 


Bra  itt  coo«  iMthtr  bom  rrinc«,  «uu  gunc  iu  .nnui  ioa  flinmun  tion. 

»r\-.rtb.  <o  dwi.H  K^-uiils  &  oihtcpUccj  "*  '"c        "e  «ndo»vbi.n  in  the  reft  of  h?«  Lcners  to  an! 

ll'trj   Thjrttc.MmUUn  of  the  flghJicds  .nJ  -fwcr  the  laoHQ.  Pretences  of  the  Pretender's  biing 

kj- tire  iaJ»«e  Lift* ottheniw  ihc  C^min  t-  a  PNtoiUnt, and  clue. be  vill  govern  us  according 

Jti'tfiaGeoealAflimbly.tobelild  before  die  tu  I-iw.  He  Uy»,  tlut  lx-ing  brc  d  up  in  the  Reli. 
1K«-GufKiI  "  ^'u(t  and  I VI i ticks  uf  ^Vc/.^r  he  it  by  Education  & 

i-  lit,V»r«;oWerTei,dut»  gnat  Nuo.berof'o-  ft^ted  Encmj  to  our  L^rty  andlllligioo.  -Thu 

it^l.VHJPBp^'oO.^ccocpc  ombum  t><M*.  ihc^)blig»uoM  which  he  MI^ hit  Family  o»je  to 

I'AKT  OF  A  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPER,  1704. 


Colonial  Literature  77 

tertaining  accounts  of  their  experiences.  Thus  John  Smith 
and  William  Strachey  wrote  about  Virginia  ;  and  William 
Bradford  and  John  Winthrop  each  left  an  admirable  historical 
account  of  the  colony  in  which  he  was  governor  and  leader. 
In  the  South,  the  writer  of  greatest  literary  merit  was  Colonel 
William  Byrd,  who  left  in  manuscript  a  charming  book  of  travel 
called  History  of  the  Dividing  Line.  In  the  middle  colonies, 
till  Benjamin  Franklin  came,  the  PSALME  Jx»,  ixu. 

only  man  who  can  be  called  a      J^Sf&SAmm 
literary   light  is  William   Penn  ;         IP  nwthou  given  hifl. 

6  Thou  fotbedayes  of  [he  Kings  life 

but   the    Moravians   were    great        wat  make  addition: 

j  •  j     u      c.     i  tosyearcsB  generation, 

printers,  and  issued  the  first  com-        and  generation. 


plete  Bible,  except  Eliot's  Indian 
Bible,  published  within  the  col- 
onies.  The  first  newspaper  in 
the  colonies,  the  Boston  News  ttoiH*vow«  which  ih«e  nude 

may  pay  continually. 

Letter,  appeared  in  1704;  and  the  P6in*  e» 

.  .    V»  T*  r,  -XT  Toiheduefrau<ician,tolcduthui\l 

trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger  in  New  apfaimeofDavid. 

York   (1735)  established  the  im- 

portant  principle  that  a  journalist 

cannot  be  convicted  of  libel  for 

publishing  the  truth.  *«  »y  defewisfo  thai  i 

roovMgrMtlyitullnotbtr. 

Works  of  fiction  were  unknown,    i  Howtoogwiiiyeeimfchiefde. 

•gainft  nuojbc  tttmc  y«  (hall, 
except  as  SeriOUS  Writers  Set  down        allyeeate»at«t«ngffnce, 

neighborhood  gossip;   but   there   ,  Y<ft£jcS'IIT.n  him  downe 
were  several  writers  of  poor  verse.       u  fran 

The   Bay  Psalm   Book,   the   first  A  PAGE  FR0^H/fE  BAY  PSAU1 
book     printed     in     the    English 

colonies  (1640),  was  made  by  a  syndicate  of  ministers,  whose 
poetic  gifts  may  be  shown  by  the  facsimile  on  this  page. 

The  favorite  literature  for  educated  men  was  theological  and 
controversial.  The  most  famous  writer  of  this  kind  was  Cotton 
Mather,  a  Boston  minister,  long  the  leading  man  of  New  Eng- 
land, who  wrote  an  enormous  and  confused  folio  which  he 
called  Magnalia  Christi  Americana.  The  two  most  popular 
HART'S  NKW  AUER.  HIST.  —  6 


78  Social  and  Political  Life 

books  in  the  colonies  were  the  New  England  Primer,  with  its 
pious  doggerel  and  rude  woodcuts,  which  went  through  many 
editions  and  was  often  given  as  a  school  prize ;  and  Wiggles- 
worth's  Day  of  Doom,  which  was  learned  by  heart  by  hundreds 
of  persons.  It  is  a  fearful  description  of  that  gruesome  place, 

"  Where  God's  fierce  ire  kindleth  the  fire, 

and  vengeance  feeds  the  flame, 
With  piles  of  wood  and  brimstone  flood, 
that  none  can  quench  the  same." 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  IN  1766. 
by  Martin.) 


(After  a  painting 


The  most  dis- 
tinctly intellec- 
tual man  of  this 
period,  and  also 
the  greatest  polit- 
ical leader,  was 
Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, who  was  born 
in  Boston  in  1706, 
and  settled  in 
Philadelphia  in 
1723.  Franklin 
was  a  good  print- 
er, and  the  first 
American  jour- 
nalist widely  read 
in  the  colonies. 
Throughout  his 
life  he  was  in- 
terested in  educa- 
tion, and  he  ren- 
dered great  service 
to  science  by 
discovering  that 
lightning  is  the 


Benjamin  Franklin  79 

same  thing  as  the  discharge  of  electricity  produced  by  friction. 
He  was  also  the  inventor  of  the  useful  Franklin  stove,  a  kind 
of  little  movable  fireplace. 

Franklin  was  appointed  deputy  postmaster-general  for  the 
colonies  in  1753  and  greatly  improved  the  service.  In  1757 
he  was  sent  to  England 
as  agent  of  the  colony  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  re- 
mained there  five  years. 
Gradually  other  colonies 
noticed  his  influence  with 
British  statesmen  and 
gave  him  a  similar  com- 
mission. He  was  a  keen 
and  caustic  writer,  and 
his  satires  on  social  and 
political  matters,  such  as 
his  Rules  for  Reducing  a 
Great  Empire  to  a  Small 
One,  had  powerful  effect. 
His  Poor  Richard's  Al- 
manac was  an  annual, 
abounding  in  shrewd, 
common-sense  observations;  it  was  widely  read  throughout 
the  colonies. 

The  chief  merit  of  Franklin  was  that  his  great  mind  saw 
how  much  the  colonies  could  do  if  they  would  only  act  to- 
gether. He  showed  a  willingness,  very  uncommon  in  the  colo- 
nies, to  sink'  local  differences  and  interests  for  the  common 
good;  and  in  England  he  impressed  the  leading  men  with 
respect  for  himself  and  for  the  colonies  which  he  represented. 
Franklin  personified  the  colonist  of  the  second  half  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  who  looked  upon  himself  as  no  longer  an  Eng- 
lishman living  overseas,  but  as  an  American,  with  no  pur- 
pose or  desire  but  to  remain  a  colonist. 


THE  FRANKLIN  STOVE.  (Invented  in  1744. 
Called  by  its  inventor  the  "  Pennsylvania 
Fireplace.") 


8o  Social  and  Political  Life 

54.   COLONIAL  RELIGIOUS  LIFE 

Franklin,  though  born  in  New  England,  never  concerned 
himself  with  the  creed  of  the  New  England  Puritans,  whose 
theology  was  built  on  the  writings  of  the  great  Genevese,  John 
Calvin  (died  1564).  This  great  divine's  favorite  doctrine  was 
"predestination";  that  is,  he  thought  that  the  whole  human 
race  was  doomed  to  perdition,  except  as  God  might  "elect" 
a  few  persons  to  be  saved.  Hence  good  deeds,  contemptuously 
called  "filthy  rags  of  works,"  could  not  in  themselves  save  any- 
body. Even  such  heads  of  the  church  as  Cotton  Mather  were 
tormented  by  the  fear  that  after  all  they  might  not  be  "elect." 
On  the  other  hand,  Calvin  set  forth  the  great  doctrine  of  "free 
will"  —  of  choice  between  good  and  evil,  with  its  emphasis  on 
personal  duty  and  responsibility. 

The  Church  of  England,  or  Episcopal  Church,  which  held 
milder  doctrines  of  salvation,  was  now  gaining  ground.  It 
was  made  the  official  church,  supported  by  public  taxa- 
tion, in  Virginia,  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  and  parts  of  New 
York,  though  aided  also  by  voluntary  contributions.  In 
1689  the  first  "King's  Chapel"  was  built  in  Boston  as  a 
place  of  Episcopal  service.  The  Congregational  Church  was 
supported  by  public  taxation  in  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts 
(including  Maine  and  Plymouth),  and  Connecticut.  In  the 
other  five  colonies  there  was  no  state  church. 

Side  by  side  with  the  established  churches  lived  many  other 
religious  sects.  The  Baptists  were  settled  chiefly  in  Rhode 
Island ;  the  Presbyterians,  some  English  and  some  Scotch,  in 
the  middle  and  southern  colonies ;  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
in  New  York ;  Lutherans,  Moravians,  Mennonites,  and  other 
German  sects  in  Pennsylvania;  English  Catholics  in  Mary- 
land ;  Quakers  and  a  few  Jews  in  most  of  the  colonies.  In  Rhode 
Island  and  Pennsylvania  there  was  practically  toleration  for 
every  form  of  Christian  belief;  and  after  1689  there  was  no 
religious  persecution  anywhere  in  the  colonies. 


Witchcraft  Episode 


Sr 


OLD  SWEDES'  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA,  BUILT  IN  1700. 

Both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  many  of  the  church  build- 
ings were  handsome  and  commodious.  In  New  England  the 
able-bodied  population  was  required  to  go  to  service,  where 
pews  were  carefully  assigned  according  to  the  social  position  of 
the  attendants.  In  the  sermons  —  two  on  Sunday  and  a  third, 
the  "Thursday  lecture,"  during  the  week  —  our  forefathers 
received  a  good  mouthful  of  doctrine,  though  two  hours  and 
a  half  was  thought  too  long  for  a  sermon.  No  hymns  were 
allowed,  only  the  Psalms  lined  out  by  the  minister.  Sunday, 
commonly  called  Sabbath,  lasted  from  sundown  on  Saturday 
to  sundown  on  Sunday,  and  in  strictness  was  as  near  a  Jew- 
ish Sabbath  as  the  conditions  permitted. 

55.   WITCHCRAFT  EPISODE  (1692) 

All  the  colonies  shared  in  the  fearful  belief,  then  current 
throughout  the  world,  that  human  beings  could  become 


82  Social  and  Political  Life 

"witches,"  and  could  make  a  personal  compact  with  the  devil 
which  would  enable  them  to  change  their  shape,  to  travel  on  the 
wings  of  the  wind,  and  especially  to  bring  bodily  harm  to 
their  enemies.  But  nowhere  else  in  the  civilized  world  did 
this  awful  delusion  play  so  little  part  as  in  the  American  colo- 
nies, though  there  were  a  few  cases  of  the  execution  of  witches. 
In  Europe  thousands  of  innocent  persons  suffered  torture  and 
death  —  often  by  fire  —  for  crimes  of  "  witchcraft  "  which  no 
one  could  commit. 

In  1692  several  girls,  including  the  daughter  of  a  minister 
near  Salem,  Massachusetts,  accused  an  Indian  slave  woman, 
Tituba,  of  bewitching  them.  In  a  few  weeks  scores  of  the 
"afflicted"  were  accusing  their  neighbors  of  the  foulest  crimes 
and  most  improbable  orgies.  A  special  court  was  set  up  for 
the  trial  of  the  accused.  The  principal  testimony  was  the 
"spectral  evidence  "  —  that  is,  the  assertion  of  the  "afflicted" 
that  they  had  cons'orted  with  witches  and  had  seen  things 
invisible  to  others.  Nineteen  alleged  witches  were  hanged, 
and  one  was  pressed  to  death  by  heavy  weights  for  refusing 
to  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty. 

To  save  themselves,  the  so-called  witches  accused  other 
people,  and  so  the  number  rolled  up  till  more  than  fifty  people 
were  so  crazed  that  they  confessed  to  being  witches,  and  told 
preposterous  stories  of  flying  through  the  air  on  broomsticks, 
of  taking  part  in  "devil's  sabbaths,"  and  of  tormenting  their 
neighbors.  When  Lady  Phips,  wife  of  the  governor,  was 
accused,  the  prosecutions  broke  down,  and  there  were  no 
more  executions  in  New  England,  though  they  continued  half 
a  century  longer  in  Europe. 

56.   RELIGIOUS  AWAKENING  (1736-1771) 

The  Puritan  "theocracy"  —  that  is,  the  ruling  influence  of 
the  ministers  who  felt  that  they  spoke  for  the  Almighty  as 
interpreted  by  John  Calvin  (§  54)  —  steadily  lost  ground  dur- 
ing the  eighteenth  century,  although  a  new  leader  of  thought 


Religious  Awakening  83 

in  New  England,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  worked  out  an 
elaborate  system  of  theology  based  on  the  "  total  depravity " 
of  human  nature. 

Against  this  harsh  theology  and  appeal  to  the  fears  of  man- 
kind came  a  movement  of  protest,  which  began  in  the  attempt 
of  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  devoted  clergymen  of  the 
Church  of  England,  to  restore  vital  religion  to  that  church. 
In  their  sermons,  doctrinal  books,  and  hymns,  they  dwelt  on 
the  love  of  the  Savior,  and  the  great  desire  of  God  that  His 
children  should  be  reconciled  to  Him.  In  1736  both  brothers, 
followed  by  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  came  out  for  a  time  to 
Georgia,  and  attempted  to  convert  the  natives  and  to  rouse  the 
colonists.  The  Wesley  movement  ended  in  the  founding  of 
the  Wesleyan  or  Methodist  Church  in  England.  In  1740 
Whitefield  came  to  New  England,  and  by  his  powerful  preach- 
ing brought  about  "The  Great  Awakening,"  the  first  general 
revival  of  religion  in  America. 

The  New  England  Congregationalists  under  this  pressure 
divided  into  "Old Lights"  and  "New  Lights,"  the  latter  feeling 
that  genuine  conversion  must  show  itself  by  tears,  groans,  and 
convulsions,  such  as  half  a  century  liter  were  popularly  called 
"the  jerks."  The  outcome  of  the  movement  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America  and  a  great 
strengthening  of  the  Baptists,  while  the  Congregational,  Pres- 
byterian, and  Episcopal  churches  throughout  the  colonies  were 
directly  or  indirectly  influenced  to  make  religion  less  a  mat- 
ter of  observance  and  dogma  and  more  a  matter  of  personal 
service. 

A  new  intellectual  interest  was  shown  by  the  publication  of 
several  excellent  local  histories,  and  by  the  foundation,  between 
1746  and  1769,  of  six  new  colleges :  New  Jersey,  shortly  moved 
to  Princeton ;  Kings,  now  Columbia;  Queens,  now  Rutgers; 
Philadelphia,  founded  by  Franklin  (later  reorganized  as  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania) ;  Rhode  Island,  now  Brown ;  and 
Dartmouth. 


84  Social  and  Political  Life 

57.   ENGLAND'S  CONTROL  or  THE  COLONIES 

In  politics  as  in  religion,  the  colonies  felt  a  serious  responsi- 
bility for  their  own  future.  During  the  seventeenth  and  eight- 
eenth centuries,  most  European  countries  were  falling  more 
and  more  under  a  one-man  government.  In  England  alone  did 
the  people  succeed  in  building  up  a  system  in  which  an  elected 
parliament  was  superior  to  the  hereditary  king.  That  idea  of 
popular  government  was  still  further  expanded  in  the  English 
colonies. 

Nominally,  the  colonial  governments  from  1689  to  1763  were 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  king;  but  practically  they  were 
controlled  only  to  some  extent  by  the  king's  ministers,  who 
made  the  decisions  and  required  the  king  to  accept  them. 
The  principal  ways  in  which  the  colonial  governments  were 
subject  to  England  were  the  following: 

(1)  The  colonists  acknowledged  the  king  to  be  their  sovereign 
and  felt  a  personal  loyalty  to  him,  which  was  doubtless  the 
stronger  because  they  were  too  far  away  to  see  him.     They  also 
admitted  the  right  of  Parliament  to  legislate  for  them  in  matters 
of  trade. 

(2)  Every  colony  was  originally  founded  on  a  royal  grant  or 
charter,  given  direct  or 'through  proprietors,  though  most  of 
these  charters  were  later  surrendered. 

(3)  The  home  government  sent  out  instructions  to  the  gov- 
ernors, who  were  appointed  by  the  Crown. 

(4)  Every  colony  had  a  legislature  authorized  by  its  charter 
or  by  instructions  from  England ;    but  the  acts  of  that  body, 
except  in  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  could   be  set  aside 
by  the  governor's  veto ;   and  if  he  signed  a  bill  it  could  still  be 
set  aside  by  the  Privy  Council  on  the  advice  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  England. 

(5)  The  laws  were  not  to  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  England ; 
and  in  some  cases  appeals  could  be  taken  from  the  colonial 
courts  to  the  Privy  Council  in  England. 


Colonial  Popular  Governments  85 

58.   COLONIAL  POPULAR  GOVERNMENTS 

These  limitations  did  not  prevent  the  American  colonies 
from  enjoying  the  freest  and  most  popular  government  then 
existing  in  the  world.  Nowhere  else  was  there  so  much  dis- 
cussion of  public  questions  by  the  people  at  large ;  nowhere 
else  was  there  so  much  of  what  Edmund  Burke,  the  great 
English  statesman,  called  the  "fierce  spirit  of  liberty." 

Then  and  since,  the  colonies  have  often  been  classified  into 
three  official  forms :  (i)  three  charter  colonies  —  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  ;  (2)  three  pro- 
prietary colonies  —  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland ; 
(3)  seven  royal  or  provincial  colonies  —  New  Hampshire, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia. 

In  all  the  colonies,  whatever  their  origin  or  form,  there  was 
a  colonial  democracy  built  on  the  conviction  that  Americans 
were  entitled  to  inborn  rights,  which  could  not  be  taken  away 
by  either  British  or  colonial  governments.  Among  them  were : 
(i)  the  personal  rights  of  Englishmen  set  forth  in  the  old  com- 
mon law,  such  as  speedy  and  open  trial  by  jury,  and  freedom 
from  arbitrary  arrest;  (2)  rights  asserted  for  the  English  by 
such  statutes  as  the  Petition  of  Right  (1628),  the  Habeas  Cor- 
pus Act  (1679),  and  the  Bill  of  Rights  (1689) ;  (3)  the  right  to 
make  decisions  in  local  matters  through  town  meetings  and 
other  local  assemblies. 

Voting  was  in  every  colony  restricted  to  owners  of  real  es- 
tate, as  in  England,  or  to  payers  of  considerable  personal 
taxes;  but  the  land  qualification  was  easy  to  get,  and  there- 
fore about  one  half  or  one  third  of  the  adult  free  men  were 
voters.  There  were  no  political  parties  in  the  modern  sense: 
the  usual  division  was  between  the  friends  of  the  governor  and 
the  opposition.  In  all  the  colonies  local  dignitaries  con- 
trolled their  neighbors'  votes ;  and  the  public  honors  fell  to  a 
small  number  of  families  of  social  distinction. 


86  Social  and  Political  Life 

Though  officially  quite  a  distance  from  one  another,  and 
connected  only  by  common  adherence  to  the  British  govern- 
ment, the  colonies  had  many  relations  with  one  another.  It 
was  easy  for  an  Englishman  or  a  foreigner  to  become  a  citizen 
of  a  colony,  or  to  move  from  one  to  another,  for  every  colony  was 
Protestant,  every  colony  had  about  the  same  system  of  laws, 
in  every  colony  English  was  the  only  official  language. 

The  most  significant  thing  about  the  colonial  governments 
is  that  they  were  very  like  the  present  state  governments,  par- 
ticularly in  their  subdivision  into  three  "  departments" : 

(1)  The  Executive.     In  each  colony  the  governor  was  the 
principal  figure.     Whether  elected  by  the  people  as  in  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,   or  appointed  by  the  proprietors,  or 
appointed  by  the  Crown,  the  governors  carried  on  the  govern- 
ment in  understanding  with  the  people  as  represented  by  _their 
assembly.     In  most  colonies  there  was  also  a  small  council 
appointed  by  the  Crown  or  the  proprietor,  which  acted  as  the 
upper  house  of  the  legislature. 

(2)  The  Legislative.     The  lower  house   of   the  legislature, 
usually  called  the  assembly,  was  elected  by    the  people.     It 
shared  in  making  the  laws  and  its  consent  was  necessary  for 
taxes. 

(3)  The  Judiciary.     The  judges  were  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor or  by  the  Crown  (except  in  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut, 
where  they  were  elected  by  the  legislature).     In  the  royal  colo- 
nies the  governor  and  council  were  the  highest  court.     This 
was  the  weakest  department,  for    the   judges  were  often  not 
skilled  in  the  law ;   but  justice  was  speedy  and  inexpensive, 
and  the  individual  was  protected  by  juries  in  all  criminal  and 
most  civil  cases. 

59.   LOCAL  GOVERNMENTS 

One  of  the  glories  of  colonial  democracy  was  the  local  gov- 
ernments, in  which  the  will  of  the  people  was  least  restrained. 
They  were  all  founded  upon  the  English  system  of  shires  or  coun- 


Local  Governments  87 

ties,  parishes,  and  boroughs  or  cities;   but  the  colonies  made 
many  changes  and  improvements. 

(1)  All  the  colonies  were  divided  into  counties,  governed  by 
what  we  should  call  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  governors 
and  called  Courts  of 

Quarter  Sessions,  or 
County  Courts.  In 
the  southern  colonies, 
the  county  courts  did 
most  of  the  local 
governing. 

(2)  Beginning  with 
New   York    in    1665, 
"borough"  or  "city" 
governments  were  set 
up  in  a  few  places  in 
Pennsylvania,       New 
York,  and  New  Jersey. 

(3)  The       smallest 
unit  of  local  govern- 


HAND  FIRE  ENGINE.     (Used  in  Germantown, 
about  1765.) 


ment  was  the  parish 
or  town.  The  parish 
in  the  South  was  gov- 
erned by  what  was  called  a  "select  vestry"  which  filled  its  own 
vacancies.  In  the  North  the  unit  was  the  "town,"  in  which 
there  was  a  taxpayers'  meeting  founded  on  a  similar  meeting 
in  some  of  the  English  parishes ;  the  county  was  there  of  little 
significance.  In  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  there  were  active 
town  governments  and  also  county  organizations. 

Amidst  all  these  different  forms,  the  most  interesting  is  the 
New  England  town  meeting,  which  was  a  general  assembly  of 
all  those  who  were  qualified  to  vote,  with  other  people  present 
as  lookers-on.  These  lively  little  meetings  chose  the  town 
officers,  especially  the  "townsmen,"  or  "selectmen,"  who 
made  up  an  executive  board  which  sat  whenever  necessary. 


88  Social  and  Political  Life 

The  main  business  of  the  town  meeting,  however,  was  to 
legislate  for  the  town,  and  it  was  a  place  for  vigorous  discus- 
sion, and  for  the  development  of  parliamentary  law  and  po- 
litical patience.  In  troubled  times  it  was  the  center  of 
.protest,  as  when  the  Cambridge  town  meeting  in  the  Stamp 
Act  days  instructed  its  representatives  that  "they  use  their 
utmost  endeavours,  that  the  same  may  be  repealed;  that  this 
vote  may  be  recorded  in  the  Town  Book,  that  the  children  yet 
unborn  may  see  the  desires  that  their  ancestors  had  for  their 
freedom  and  happiness." 

60.   REVIEW 

The  thing  most  important  to  remember  about  the  early 
English  colonies  is  that  for  a  long  time  they  looked  upon  them- 
selves as  simply  a  body  of  English  people  living  across  the  sea. 
Nevertheless  the  conditions  of  frontier  life  and  Indian  warfare 
made  their  life  very  different.  They  increased  rapidly  in  popu- 
lation, doubling  about  every  twenty-five  years.  Most  of  them 
lived  simply,  though  a  few  had  handsome  houses  and  surround- 
ings. 

The  New  Englanders  and  Dutch  early  started  schools,  and 
three  little  colleges  were  founded  before  1702.  In  Pennsylvania 
and  New  England  there  were  several  well-known  writers,  es- 
pecially the  Dutch  and  Puritan  clergymen.  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin is  the  most  striking  figure  of  the  period,  as  journalist, 
inventor,  statesman,  and  writer. 

The  most  important  religious  denominations  were  the  Congre- 
gationalists  in  New  England  and  several  other  colonies,  and  the 
Episcopalians  in  the  southern  colonies  and  New  York.  There 
were  several  other  denominations,  English,  Dutch,  German,  and 
Jewish.  In  1692  many  people  of  New  England  went  almost 
insane  over  witchcraft,  and  nineteen  supposed  witches  were 
hanged.  A  new  religious  movement  was  started  by  the  Wesley 
brothers  and  Whitefield,  which  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the 
Methodist  Church  in  America  and  the  stirring  up  of  the  other 


References  89 

churches.     Six  new  colleges  were  founded  between  1746  and 
1769. 

The  colonists  had  a  very  free  government  with  their  own 
legislatures,  but  were  partly  under  the  control  of  governors 
appointed  by  the  king.  They  enjoyed  liberal  personal  rights 
and  popular  suffrage  on  rather  easy  conditions.  They  also  de- 
veloped their  own  local  government  in  the  three  forms  of  towns, 
counties,  and  cities. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Avery,  U.S.,  III.  206.  —  Greene,  Provin- 
cial Am.,  66. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  134-137,  145-158.  —  Becker,  Begin- 
nings, ch.  v.  —  Bruce,  Social  Life  of  Va.  —  Channing,  U.S.,  II.  chs.  viii, 
xiv-xvi.  —  Dickerson,  Am.  Col.  Govt.  —  Doyle,  English  in  Am.,  I.  268- 
274,  326,  II.  i-io,  III.  1-97,  298-310,  377-395,  V.  chs.  iv,  v,  vii.  — 
Fiske,  Dutch  and  Quaker  Cols.,  II.  258-285,  317-356;  New  France  and 
New  Engl.,  chs.  v,  vi ;  Old  Va.,  II.  1-44,  116-130,  204-269,  308-325.  — 
Ford,  Many-sided  Franklin.  —  Greene,  Provincial  Am.,  chs.  i-vi,  xi-xiv, 
xviii ;  Provincial  Governor.  —  Jenks,  W hen  Am.  won  Liberty,  chs.  v-vii.  — 
McCrady,  So.  Carolina,  II.  399-540.  —  Thwaites,  Cols.,  §§  23-26,  40- 
46  passim,  75-81  passim,  91-97  passim,  119,  129. — Tyler,  Am. 
Literature  (colonial).  —  Weeden,  New  Engl.,  I.  47-87,  213-231,  269- 
303,  410-429,  II.  512-551,  692-713.  —  Wendell,  Cotton  Mather,  88-307. 

Sources.  Caldwell,  Survey,  13-22,  126-132.  —  Franklin,  Auto- 
biography. —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  I.  §§  85-89,  137-149,  168,  172,  II. 
§§  16-18,  25-47  passim,  87,  90-108 ;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  149-153, 
157-162,  170-180,  187,  194-243  passim;  Source  Book,  §§  u,  12,  28-35, 
41-52.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xi. — Jameson,  Original  Narratives 
(witchcraft  cases).  — Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  51,  159-161,  177,  184,  185. — 
Sewall,  Diary.  —  Woolman,  Journal.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers' 
Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §§  73,  74;  Syllabus,  306-308,  313-315,  318-321. 

Illustrative.  Cooke,  Youth  of  Jefferson  (college  life).  —  Cooper, 
Satanstoe  (N.Y.).  —  DuBois,  Martha  Corey  (witchcraft).  —  Earle, 
Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days;  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days;  Colonial 
Dames;  Sabbath  in  Puritan  New  England;  Two  Centuries  of  Costume; 
Curious  Punishments.  —  Harland,  His  Great  Self  (Col.  Byrd).  —  Long- 
fellow, Giles  Corey.  —  Meyers,  Young  Patroon  (N.Y.).  —  Paulding, 
Dutchman's  Fireside.  —  Whittier,  Mabel  Martin;  Prophecy  of  Samuel 
Sewall;  Witch  of  Wenham. 


9<D  Social  and  Political  Life 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  Ill,  V.  ch.  i.  —  Earle's  books  (cited  in  the 
preceding  paragraph).  —  Eggleston,  in  The  Century,  1884,  1885.  — 
Mentor,  serial  nos.  62,  77,  86,  99.  —  Sparks,  Expansion.  —  Wilson,  Am. 
People,  I,  II. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Life  in  Philadelphia,  or  New  York,  or  Boston,  about  1750. 
[§  49]  —  (2)  Account  of  the  Collegiate  School  in  New  Amsterdam. 
[§  Si]  — (3)  Early  life  in  Harvard,  or  William  and  Mary,  or  Yale. 
[§  51!  —  (4)  Benjamin  Franklin,  as  a  boy  and  young  man.  [§  53]  — 
(5)  Incidents  of  church  services  in  the  colonies.  [§  54]  —  (6)  Witch 
prosecutions  in  other  colonies  besides  Massachusetts.  [§  55]  —  (7)  Con- 
temporary accounts  of  Salem  witchcraft.  [§  55]  —  (8)  Account  of  a 
meeting  of  a  colonial  legislature.  [§  58]  —  (9)  Colonial  town  meetings. 
[§59]  —  (I(3)  Colonial  county  courts.  [§  59] 


Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Huguenots  in  the  English  colonies.  [§  49]  —  (12)  One  of  these 
groups  of  immigrants  in  Pennsylvania  before  1763  :  Germans;  Scotch- 
Irish;  Moravians.  [§§  49,  54]  —  (13)  Description  and  criticism  of 
Mather's  Magnolia,  or  of  the  New  England  Primer.  [§  52]  —  (14)  Famous 
early  church  buildings.  [§  54]  —  (15)  One  of  the  following  clergymen  in 
America  :  Increase  Mather  ;  Edwards ;  Whitefield  ;  John  Wesley ;  Byles. 
[§  56]  —  (16)  Life  in  one  of  the  following  colleges  before  the  Revolution  : 
New  Jersey;  Kings;  Philadelphia;  Rhode  Island;  Dartmouth.  [§56]  — 

(17)  Why  was  government  so  democratic  in   the  colonies?   [§  58]  — 

(18)  Experiences  of  some  particular  colonial  governor.    [§  58] 


CHAPTER  VI 

FRANCE   AND    THE   WEST    (1670-1763) 
61.   FRENCH  IN  THE  INTERIOR  (1670-1680) 


GOVERNOR  SPOTSWOOD'S  EXPE- 
DITION TO  THE  BLUE  RIDGE. 

WITH  all  their  dash  and 
enterprise  on  the  seacoast, 
the  English  showed  little  curi- 
osity about  the  country  behind 
the  Appalachian  Mountains.     Two  or 
three  unofficial  travelers,  particularly 
Batts,  an   Englishman,  and  Lederer,  a 
German  Swiss,  crossed  the  divide  before 
1689  and  reached  waters  flowing   mys- 
teriously westward;    and  a  few  traders 
penetrated  into  the  Cherokee  Indian  coun- 
try  in   the  southwest.     Not  till  1716  did 
Governor  Spotswood  of  Virginia  cross  the 
Blue  Ridge. 

01 


92  France  and  the  West 

The  French,  however,  had  a  natural  genius  for  exploration, 
and  never  ceased  to  enlarge  their  knowledge  about  the  great 
interior  (§  29).  From  the  Indians  on  the  upper  lakes,  they 
learned  vaguely  about  a  great  south-flowing  river  which, 
they  guessed,  must  empty  into  the  Gulf  of  California.  Mean- 
while another  Frenchman  was  making  plans  for  reaching 
that  stream.  This  was  Robert  Cavelier,  commonly  called 
La  Salle,  a  nobleman  who  in  1670  ventured  on  Lake  Erie 
and  thence  southwestward  to  a  large  river  which  was  perhaps 
the  Ohio. 

The  first  Frenchman  to  reach  the  great  south-flowing  river  wks 
the  missionary  Father  Marquette,  accompanied  by  the  trader 
Joliet.  They  ascended  the  Fox  River  and  went  down  the  Wis- 
consin till  (June  17,  1673)  they  entered  the  mighty  Mississippi 
(map,  page  94).  League  after  league  they  floated  down  the 
river,  hoping  to  reach  the  sea.  They  passed  the  mouth  of 
the  Missouri,  so  muddy  that  they  would  not  drink  it.  By 
the  time  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  they  felt 
sure  that  they  were  near  Spanish  and  hostile  territory ;  they 
therefore  turned  back,  and  paddled  up  the  Illinois  River, 
which  they  called  the  Divine,  and  crossed  over  the  site  now 
occupied  by  Chicago  to  Lake  Michigan. 

La  Salle  obtained  the  favor  of  the  French  monarch  Louis 
XIV,  who  authorized  him  to  make  discoveries  in  the  far 
West.  In  1679  La  Salle  built  the  ship  Gri/on  on  Lake  Erie 
and  navigated  her  to  Lake  Michigan.  Crossing  the  portage 
from  the-  St.  Joseph  River  to  the  Kankakee  River,  he 
went  downstream,  and  began  to  build  another  ship  on  the 
Illinois  River  at  a  place  which  he  named  Fort  Crevecceur 
(Heartbreak).  A  missionary  friar,  Father  Hennepin,  came 
out  with  La  Salle  and  was  sent  by  him  down  the  Illinois 
and  thence  up  the  Mississippi ;  he  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Sioux  Indians,  and  carried  to  the  falls,  which  Hennepin 
named  St.  Anthony,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Minneapolis 
(1680). 


Louisiana  93 

62.   EXPLORATION  OF  THE  LOWER  MISSISSIPPI  (1682-1687) 

Fate  seemed  against  La  Salle.  The  Griffon  was  lost.  The 
shipbuilders  on  the  Illinois  deserted.  But  La  Salle  never  gave 
up.  He  traveled  thousands  of  miles  till  he  collected  the 
necessary  men  and  supplies.  Early  in  1682  he  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  with  a  party  in  canoes,  and  thence  floated 
down  the  same  stretch  that  Marquette  had  traversed.  Soon 
after  passing  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  he  took  possession  of  the 
country  with  great  ceremony,  and  set  up  the  king's  arms.  A 
few  days  later,  at  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  he  founded  Fort 
Prudhomme. 

After  a  few  weeks  he  passed  Marquette's  farthest  point  and 
(April  6,  1682)  arrived  at  a  place  where  the  river  divided  into 
three  channels.  As  one  of  the  party  wrote:  "The  water  is 
brackish;  after  advancing  two  leagues  it  became  perfectly 
salt,  and  advancing  on,  we  discovered  the  open  sea,  so 
that  .  .  .  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  in  the  name  of  his  majesty, 
took  possession  of  that  river,  of  all  rivers  that  enter  it,  and  of  all 
the  country  watered  by  them."  Thus  was  asserted  the  French 
title  to  the  magnificent  valley  which  La  Salle  named  Louisiana, 
in  honor  of  Louis  XIV. 

La  Salle's  discovery  made  such  an  impression  that  the  king 
sent  him  back,  by  sea,  to  plant  a  colony  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  By  ill  fortune  he  missed  the  river,  and  built  Fort 
St.  Louis  (1685)  on  Matagorda  Bay,  Texas.  He  could  not  find 
his  river;  and  after  setting  out  for  Canada  to  get  help  he 
was  murdered  by  some  of  his  own  followers  in  1687.  The 
fort  in  Texas  was  destroyed  by  Indians,  while  the  Spaniards 
from  Mexico  were  trying  to  reach  it  in  order  to  prevent  a  possible 
French  settlement. 

63.  LOUISIANA  (1687-1735) 

After  La  Salle  had  explored  the  Mississippi,  the  French  made 
several  permanent  settlements  in  what  came  to  be  called  the 
HART'S  NI.W  AMER.  HIST.  —  7 


94  France  and  the  West 

Illinois  country,  among  them  Detroit  (1701),  and  Vincennes  on 
the  Wabash  (1735). 

The  Spaniards  were  anxious  to  make  good  their  neglected 
claims  to  the  lower  Mississippi  country,  and  settled  Pensacola 
(1696)  as  a  basis  for  colonies  to  be  planted  farther  west.  The 
French  interrupted  this  plan  by  sending  out  130  colonists  under 


FRENCH  LOUISIANA. 

Iberville  in  1699  to  take  possession  of  the  coast  of  Louisiana. 
After  stopping  at  Dauphin  Island  and  at  Biloxi  on  the  mainland, 
they  founded  Mobile  (1702).  The  main  purpose  of  this  colony 
was  to  secure  control  of  the  valuable  fur  trade  with  the  Indians 
of  the  interior,  but  it  grew  very  slowly. 

In  1712  a  rich  banker,  Antoine  Crozat,  got  from  the  king  of 
France  a  grant  giving  him  a  monopoly  of  trade  in  "all  the 


Rivalries  in  Europe  95 

countries,  territories,  lakes  within  land,  and  the  rivers  which 
fall  directly  or  indirectly  into  the  river  St.  Louis,  heretofore 
called  the  Mississippi."  This  is  the  first  distinct  claim  since 
La  Salle's  voyage  (§  62)  to  the  whole  region  drained  by  the 
tributaries  of  the  Mississippi,  as  belonging  to  France.  Crozat 
made  little  use  of  his  privileges,  but  in  1717  the  Illinois  country 
was  annexed  to  Louisiana.  During  the  next  year  a  new  politi- 
cal and  commercial  center  for  the  colony  was  created  in  the  town 
of  New  Orleans,  on  a  site  chosen  because  the  water  front  was 
elevated  a  few  feet  above  the  river.  Some  German  emigrants 
came  in  as  well  as  French,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years 
7000  Europeans  gathered  in  Louisiana. 

64.   RIVALRIES  IN  EUROPE  (1689-1763) 

The  year  1689  is  a  significant  date  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States :  for  it  marks  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  Euro- 
pean wars  which  extended  to  the  colonies  and  which,  after 
nearly  seventy-five  years  of  strife,  pushed  France  out  of  the 
North  American  continent  and  thus  made  an  independent 
American  nation  possible.  The  first  step  in  this  process  was 
the  overthrow  of  James  II  of  England  (§  46).  He  fled  to 
France,  where  Louis  XIV  harbored  him ;  and  that  at  once 
brought  on  war  between  England  and  France.  The  resulting 
struggle  in  the  New  World  was  the  first  of  four  intercolonial 
wars,  which  were  not  ended  till  1763.  In  1701  Spain  came 
into  the  wars  as  a  kind  of  satellite  of  France,  for  the 
Spanish  accepted  as  their  king  a  younger  grandson  of  Louis 
XIV.  Another  significant  change  was  the  union  of  England 
and  Scotland  into  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  in  1707.  Up 
to  this  time  the  two  countries  had  been  distinct,  although  both 
had  the  same  sovereign  after  the  accession  of  James  I  (1603). 
Arter  1707  they  were  one  land,  with  one  parliament  and  one 
flag  —  the  British. 

The  most  notable  thing  in  the  intercolonial  wars  is  the  rise 
of  the  British  sea  pow.er,  through  the  "  wooden  walls  of  Eng- 


96  France  and  the  West 

land."-  To  protect  her  own  colonies,  scattered  all  over  the 
globe,  and  to  attack  the  colonies  of  France  and  Spain,  England 
developed  the  best  navy  of  the  time.  The  great  "  ships  of  the 
line,"  for  naval  battles,  were  of  1000  to  2000  tons'  burden,  and 
carried  in  one  or  two  tiers  as  many  as  seventy-four  guns.  In 
each  of  the  four  intercolonial  wars  there  was  fighting  on  the 
wilderness  frontiers  between  the  French  colonies  and  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  of  New  England  and  New  York ;  in  the  later  wars 
the  English  colonists  in  the  South  also  found  themselves  pitted 
against  the  Spaniards  of  Florida;  while  the  West  Indies  be- 
came a  zone  of  naval  warfare  in  which  European  fleets  con- 
tended and  the  small  islands  changed  hands. 

65.  INDIAN  WARFARE 

All  the  English  colonists  except  the  Pennsylvanians  were 
used  to  wars  with  their  own  immediate  Indian  neighbors. 
The  Indians  were  now  drawn  into  these  international  troubles 
as  the  allies  of  one  side  or  the  other.  The  first  experience  of 
invasion  was  an  expedition  of  French  and  Indians  which  in 
1690  made  a  night  attack  on  the  town  of  Schenectady,  near 
Albany,  sacked  and  burned  the  little  place,  killed  sixty  people, 
and  took  thirty  .prisoners.  A  similar  incident  was  the  raiding 
of  the  Connecticut  River  town  of  Deerfield  in  1704,  when  more 
than  half  of  the  inhabitants  were  killed  or  swept  away.  First 
and  last  ten  places  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
and  New  York  were  raided  in  this  fashion.  The  English  used 
the  same  tactics,  engaged  Indian  allies  when  they  could,  and 
did  not  disdain  to  offer  a  reward  for  scalps. 

Fearful  was  the  hasty  march  northward  after  a  French  raid ; 
little  children  were  brained  against  the  trees,  because  too 
troublesome  to  carry ;  the  women  who  fainted  with  fatigue 
were  tomahawked  and  scalped  to  save  the  trouble  of  carrying 
them  along.  In  one  such  foray  (1691)  Hannah  Dustin  of 
Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  was  made  prisoner.  She  had  the 
courage,  with  a  nurse  and  a  white  boy,  to  surprise  her  captors, 


First  Three  Intercolonial  Wars  97 

and  to  kill  not  only  two  Indian  men  but  three  women  and 
five  children ;  by  this  means  she  escaped  and  reached  home 
to  tell  the  tale. 

The  English  saved  themselves  from  the  worst  danger  from 
Indians  by  making  friends  with  the  ferocious  Iroquois,  who  were 
enlarged  into  "Six  Nations"  instead  of  five  by  taking  in  the 
Tuscaroras  in  1715.  The  home  government  later  appointed  Sir 
William  Johnson  its  agent  to  the  Six  Nations.  He  lived  among 
them  in  a  great  place  called  Johnson  Hall,  where  he  kept  open 
house  for  their  benefit.  He  was  an  adept  at  those  long-drawn 
councils  which  the  Indians  so  much  loved ;  he  knew  how  to 
give  belts  of  wampum,  how  metaphorically  "to  dry  up  their 
tears,"  "to  clear  the  road  grown  up  with  weeds,"  and  to  set  up 
"the  fine  shady  trees  almost  blown  down  by  the  northerly 
winds."  This  palaver,  accompanied  with  plenty  of  food  and 
rum,  was  very  effective  in  preventing  the  French  north  wind 
from  blowing  down  the  English  influence  among  the  Iroquois. 

66.  FIRST  THREE  INTERCOLONIAL  WARS  (1689-1748) 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  follow  the  confused  and  indecisive 
conflicts  between  the  British  on  the  one  side  and  the  French 
and  the  Spanish  on  the  other.  The  only  notable  successes  of 
the  English  colonists  in  the  first  three  wars  were  the  capture  of 
the  little  town  of  Port  Royal  in  Acadia  in  1690,  and  again  in 
1710,  and  the  taking  of  the  great  naval  station  of  Louisburg  on 
the  island  of  Cape  Breton  in  1745. 

The  results  of  the  first  three  wars  were  recorded  in  three 
notable  treaties:  (i)  The  Peace  of  Ryswick  in  1697  gave  back 
to  each  side  the  possessions  that  it  had  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  (2)  The  Peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713  yielded  French  Acadia 
—  the  present  Nova  Scotia  —  to  Great  Britain ;  and  the  French 
also  gave  up  the  Hudson  Bay  country  and  Newfoundland. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  downfall  of  the  French  colonial 
empire.  (3)  The  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748,  after  a 
war  in  which  the  colonists  aided  the  British  to  attack  the 


98  France  and  the  West 

Spanish  colonies  in  South  America,  restored  things  as  they  had 
been  after  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  Nevertheless  Great  Britain 
was  gaining  power  throughout  the  world,  especially  on  the  sea, 
while  Spain  was  slowly  going  downhill,  and  France  was  barely 
able  to  hold  her  own. 

67.   FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  RIVALRY  ON  THE  OHIO  (1749-1754) 

Everybody  understood  that  the  peace  of  1748  was  only  a 
respite  in  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  Mississippi 
valley.  The  French  already  had  a  chain  of  posts  and  settle- 


THE  BATTLE  AT  FORT  NECESSITY. 

ments  from  Lake  Michigan  through  Illinois  down  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  They  now  proceeded  to  strengthen  this  defense 
by  building  another  chain  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Ohio  River. 
Among  the  new  forts  were  Presque  Isle  (Erie),  and  Le  Bceuf 


French  and  Indian  War  99 

on  a  tributary  of  the  Allegheny  River.  The  French  had  the 
advantages  of  first  discovery,  first  settlement,  and  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Indians.  Nevertheless,  the  British  government 
made  a  grant  to  the  so-called  Ohio  Company  (1749),  formed 
by  Virginians,  for  lands  on  the  upper  Ohio  River. 

Under  instructions  from  England,  Governor  Dinwiddie  of 
Virginia  in  1753  sent  out  a  colonial  officer,  George  Washing- 
ton (then  21  years  old),  to  warn  the  French  to  depart.  He 
delivered  his  message  at  Fort  Le  Boeuf  and  returned  to  report 
that  the  French  would  not  yield.  Instead,  the  French  seized 
the  strategic  point  of  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio  (now  Pittsburgh) 
and  built  Fort  Duquesne  on  the  coveted  spot.  Washington, 
in  command  of  a  little  force  of  Virginians,  attacked  a  smaller 
body  of  Frenchmen  near  Great  Meadows  (May,  1754);  and 
under  his  orders  the  first  shot  was  fired  in  the  fourth  inter- 
colonial war,  which  developed  into  a  great  international  con- 
test. A  few  weeks  later  Washington  was  obliged  to  surrender 
Fort  Necessity  —  a  little  stronghold  that  he  had  built. 

68.   FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR  (1754-1763) 

The  colonists  were  neither  armed  nor  prepared  for  such  a 
struggle,  and  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
bring  them  to  act  together  through  a  Congress  which  assembled 
at  Albany  in  1754.  Representatives  appeared  from  seven 
colonies  and  made  arrangements  to  keep  the  favor  of  the 
Iroquois.  Benjamin  Franklin  also  presented  a  plan  for  colonial 
union  which  is  a  foreshadowing  of  our  present  Constitution.  A 
grand  council,  representing  the  colonies  roughly  in  proportion 
to  their  population,  was  to  be  the  active  body.  This  plan  was 
approved  by  the  Albany  Congress,,  and  was  sent  out  to  the 
colonies  for  consideration,  but  as  Franklin  said,  "Its  fate  was 
singular ;  the  assemblies  did  not  adopt  it,  as  they  all  thought 
there  was  too  much  prerogative  in  it,  and  in  England  it  was 
judged  to  have  too  much  of  the  democratic." 

Another  notable  incident  of  the  war  was  the  forcible  removal 


zoo  France  and  the  West 

of  the  seven  thousand  French  settlers  who  were  living  in 
Nova  Scotia,  notwithstanding  its  cession  to  Great  Britain  in 
1713.  To  prevent  the  danger  of  their  rising,  an  officer  was 
sent  (1755),  with  orders  to  remove  them.  He  says  that  the 
men  first  to  embark  "went  off  Praying,  Singing  &  Crying  being 
Met  by  the  women  &  Children  all  the  way  (which  is  i|  mile) 
with  great  Lamentations  upon  their  Knees,  praying  &c."  The 


SCENE  OF  THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR. 

Acadian  families  were  torn  from  their  homes,  loaded  on  vessels, 
and  distributed  in  the  colonies,  where  many  of  them  suffered 
severely  before  they  could  find  a  livelihood,  and  some  families 
were  forever  separated. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  British  colonists  numbered 
about  1,300,000;  and  the  French  Canadians  only  about  80,000, 
besides  some  savage  allies.  The  fighting  raged  all  along  the 
frontiers  from  Maine  through  Lake  Champlain  and  the  southern 


French  and  Indian  War  101 

shore  of  Lake  Ontario  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio.  The 
colonists  raised  considerable  numbers  of  troops  and  were  backed 
by  small  armies  of  British  regulars. 

In  the  summer  of  1755  an  expedition  of  fifteen  hundred  men, 
under  the  British  general  Braddock,  was  sent  against  Fort  Du- 
quesne  and  met  a  dramatic  fate.  Braddock  was  within  seven 
miles  of  his  destination,  when  a  force  of  French  and  Indians, 
about  one  half  of  his  strength,  sallied  out  and  totally  defeated 
him.  His  regulars  were  brave  but  did  not  understand  Indian 
fighting,  and  Braddock  would  not  allow  even  the  militia  to  fight 
from  behind  trees ;  hence  a  third  of  his  officers  and  men  were 
killed,  and  the  remainder,  regulars  and  provincials  alike,  Wash- 
ington says,  "ran  as  sheep  pursued  by  dogs." 

In  the  first  three  years  of  the  war,  the  French  had  the  best 
of  it  almost  everywhere  in  America ;  it  was  hard  to  get  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  to  act  together.  As  had  been  expected,  the  war 
extended  to  Europe,  where  it  lasted  from  1756  to  1763  and  is 
therefore  called  the  Seven  Years'  War.  It  extended  even  to 
India,  where  in  the  famous  battle  of  Plassey  (1757),  British 
supremacy  was  secured  over  the  French  and  the  natives.  Else- 
where Great  Britain  suffered  humiliating  defeats.  Then  the 
English  people  insisted  that  William  Pitt,  an  ardent  and  im- 
pulsive man,  a  powerful  speaker,  and  a  great  administrator,  be 
put  at  the  head  of  affairs ;  and  things  began  to  mend.  In 
America  Fort  Duquesne  was  taken  in  1758 ;  and  the  French 
could  not  prevent  the  second  capture  of  Louisburg. 

To  invade  Canada,  Pitt  now  selected  General  James  Wolfe, 
a  model  commander,  endowed  with  the  English  bulldog  te- 
nacity, and  at  the  same  time  with  soldierly  skill  and  daring. 
With  9000  men  and  a  fleet,  Wolfe  besieged  the  strong  fortress 
of  Quebec,  defended  by  14,000  men  ably  commanded  by  the 
Marquis  de  Montcalm.  Wolfe  forced  and  won  a  battle  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham,  above  the  town  (September  13,  1759), 
but  was  himself  mortally  wounded.  The  result  was  dis- 
puted at  the  time.  "'They  run,  see  how  they  run,'  cried 


IO2  France  and  the  West 

a  bystander.  '  Who  runs  ? '  demanded  our  hero,  with  great 
earnestness.  .  .  .  The  officer  answered,  'The  enemy,  Sir; 
Egad,  they  give  way  everywhere.'  The  dying  general  issued 
his  orders  quickly;  then  turning  on  his  side,  he  said,  'Now, 

God  be  praised,  I  will 
die  in  peace.'"  In 
a  few  days  Quebec 
surrendered,  and  the 
next  year  Montreal  fell. 
In  1762  Manila  and 
Havana  were  captured 
from  Spain  by  British 
fleets. 

69.  RESULTS  OF  THE 
WAR  (1763) 

The  war  was  ended 
in  all  parts  of  the 
world  by  the  Peace  of 
Paris  (1763).  Besides 
momentous  changes  in 
the  maps  of  Europe 
and  India,  the  treaty 
registered  the  most 

significant   alterations   in    the    internal   boundaries   of   North 

America  that  had  ever  been  brought  about : 

(1)  The  French  lost  every  part  of  their  American  empire  ex- 
cept the  two  little  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  off  New- 
foundland, and  a  few  of  the  West  Indies. 

(2)  By  a  secret  treaty  France  ceded  to  Spain  the  whole  of 
the  western  half  of  Louisiana  beyond  the  Mississippi  River, 
together  with  the  "Island  of  Orleans"  (New  Orleans  and  vi- 
cinity), which   commanded    the   mouth  of  that   river.     Since 
Spain  claimed  the  Pacific  coast,  she  was  thus  put  into  posses- 
sion of  nearly  half  the  continent  of  North  America. 


Review  103 

(3)  By  the  Peace  of  Paris  the  British  gained  much :  (a)  Cape 
Breton  and  Prince  Edward  Island ;  (b)  Canada,  or  the  whole 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  including  the  Great  Lakes ;  (c)  the 
Ohio  valley,  Illinois  country,  and  all  other  parts  of  Louisiana 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  excepting  the  Island  of  Orleans; 
(d)  East  and  West  Florida,  which  were  given  by  Spain  in  ex- 
change for  the  return  of  Cuba.  Thus  the  British  became 
masters  of  the  whole  eastern  half  of  the  continent. 

Except  for  extending  Georgia  southward  to  the  St.  Marys 
River,  none  of  this  new  territory  was  added  to  the  coast  col- 
onies. In  fact,  by  the  "Proclamation  of  1763"  the  governors 
were  forbidden  to  "grant  warrants  of  survey  or  pass  patents  for 
any  lands  beyond  the  heads  or  sources  of  any  of  the  rivers 
which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  the  west  or  northwest." 
That  country  was  to  be  reserved  for  the  Indians  (map, 
page  104). 

The  vast  interior  had  very  few  white  inhabitants.  There 
were  perhaps  6000  French  east  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  north- 
west country.  South  of  the  Ohio  there  were  only  a  few  Indian 
traders  and  half-breeds.  It  soon  became  clear,  however,  that 
the  eastern  settlers  would  push  into  the  new  country,  procla- 
mation or  no  proclamation.  Pennsylvania  was  the  only  colony 
that  still  possessed  a  charter  under  which  it  held  a  continu- 
ous strip  beyond  the  Alleghenies,  and  before  the  war  was  over 
hardy  Scotch-Irishmen  and  Germans  were  pushing  their  way 
down  the  western  slopes  toward  the  Ohio. 

70.   REVIEW 

After  1670,  the  French  steadily  pushed  west  and  southwest. 
The  missionary,  Father  Marquette,  was  the  first  to  reach  the 
Mississippi  River  (1673).  The  greatest  explorer  was  La  Salle, 
the  first  Frenchman  to  navigate  Lake  Erie.  One  of  his  com- 
panions, Father  Hennepin,  went  up  the  Mississippi  River  to  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony.  La  Salle  in  1682  went  down  the  river  till  he 
reached  the  sea ;  and  he  claimed  the  whole  region  as  a  French 


IO4 


France  and  the  West 


possession,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana.  The  French  colony 
of  Louisiana,  founded  in  1699,  developed  very  slowly  and  in- 
cluded little  settlements  in  the  Illinois  country. 


Boundaries  of  the  new-provinces 

.  Proclamation  Line 
.  Boundaries  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies 
/  i  s     .-       Present  stale  boundarie. 

'i»       J\:    1  4o 


BRITISH  COLONIES  IN  1765. 

From  1689  to  1763,  the  history  of  international  relations  in 
America  is  chiefly  the  story  of  the  downfall  of  the  French  colo- 
nial power.  In  these  wars  the  Indians  took  part.  The  French 


References  105 

used  them  for  raiding  the  frontiers,  but  the  English  had  the  aid 
of  the  Iroquois. 

In  three  wars  between  1689  and  1748  the  French  lost  Nova 
Scotia  and  their  claims  to  the  Hudson  Bay  country  and  New- 
foundland. They  then  attempted  to  strengthen  their  posses- 
sions and  claims  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  Virginia,  acting  for 
the  British  government,  protested;  and  her  agent,  George 
Washington,  attacked  the  French  in  1754. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  which 
the  French  held  their  own  in  the  Ohio  valley  for  three  years  and 
defeated  the  little  army  of  General  Braddock  near  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio  (1755).  In  1757  came  a  change.  The  French  were 
compelled  to  give  way  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  and  by  the 
capture  of  Quebec,  in  1759  lost  their  hold  in  Canada.  By  the 
Peace  of  Paris  (1763)  they  were  obliged  to  give  up  all  their 
splendid  possessions  on  the  mainland  of  North  America.  The 
country  west  of  the  mountains  was  left  for  the  British  to  settle ; 
but  for  some  years  they  held  off  from  founding  new  colonies 

there. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  94,  100,  104.  —  Avery,  U.S.,  Ill, 
IV.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  23,  27.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  n,  17.  — 
Epoch  Maps,  nos.  iv,  v.  —  Semple,  Geogr.  Conditions,  36-46.  —  Thwaites, 
Colonies;  France  in  Am.  —  See  Supt.  of  Docs.,  Geography  and  Explora- 
tion List. 

Secondary.  Andrews,  Col.  Period,  ch.  ix.  —  Charming,  U.S.,  II. 
chs.  xviii,  xix.  —  Douglas,  New  Engl.  and  New  France.  —  Fiske,  New 
France  and  New  Engl.,  chs.  iv,  vii-x.  —  Greene,  Provincial  Am.,  chs.  vii-x. 

—  Griffis,  Sir  William  Johnson. — Johnson,  General  Washington,  i~66. 

—  King,  Sieur  de  Bienville. — Lodge,  Washington,  I.  1-14,  54-118. — 
Parkman,  Frontenac;  Half  Century  of  Conflict;  La  Salle;  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe;    Pontiac.  —  Sloane,  French  War  and  Rev.,  22-115.  —  Thwaites, 
France  in  Am.;  Marquette.  —  Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  chs.  x-xvi; 
Mississippi  Basin.  —  Wood,  Fight  for  Canada. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  no.  14.  —  Caldwell,  Survey,  39-43; 
Terr.  Development,  12-23.  —  Cox,  Journeys  of  La  Salle.  —  Hart,  Contem- 
poraries, I.  §§  42,  43,  II.  §§  109-129;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  126-134, 
162,  170,  188-190,  201-205,  2Io~213>  220-235,  243~247 >  Source  Book, 


io6  France  and  the  West 

§§  36-40.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Charters,  nos.  51,  52,  54.  —  Old  Sotjft 
Leaflets,  nos.  9,  46,  73,  187.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc., 
Hist.  Sources,  §  75;  Syllabus,  216,  301,  315-318. 

Illustrative.  Catherwood,  Story  of  Tonty.  —  Cooke,  Stories  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  110-139.  —  Cooper,  Last  of  the  Mohicans;  Deerslayer. — 
Craddock,  Old  Fort  London.  —  Crowley,  Daughter  of  New  France.  — 
Eggleston,  Am.  War  Ballads,  I.  14-20.  —  Gordon,  Englishman's  Haven 
(Louisburg).  —  Hawthorne,  Grandfather's  Chair,  pt.  ii.,  chs.  vii-x ;  Old 
News,  pt.  ii.  —  Kirby,  Golden  Dog  (Canada).  —  Laut,  Heralds  of  Empire. 

—  Longfellow,  Evangeline.  — McHenry,  The  Wilderness  (Ohio  country). 

—  Munroe,  At  War  with  Pontiac.  —  Parker,  Trail  of  the  Sword  (Canada) ; 
Seats  of  the  Mighty  (French  and  Indian  War).  —  Stevenson,  Soldier  of 
Virginia  (Braddock  and  Washington).  —  Whittier,  Pentucket. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  Ill,  IV. — Mentor,  Serial  no.  35.  —  Wilson, 
Am.  People,  II.  —  Winsor,  America,  V. 


Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Why  was  La  Salle  so  much  interested  in  western  travel?  [§  61]  — 
(2)  Father  Marquette  as  a  missionary.  [§  61]  —  (3)  Incidents  of 
La  Salle's  voyage  on  the  Mississippi.  [§  62]  —  (4)  First  French  colony 
in  Louisiana.  [§  63]  —  (5)  Life  in  early  New  Orleans.  [§  63]  —  (6)  Life 
at  Johnson  Hall.  [§  65]  —  (7)  Account  of  the  French  chain  of  western 
posts.  [§  67]  —  (8)  George  Washington  in  the  West.  [§  67]  —  (9)  Eng- 
lish capture  of  Quebec.  [§  68] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  Life  in  early  Detroit,  or  Pittsburgh.  [§§  63,  67]  —  (n)  Life  on 
an  English  ship  of  war.  [§  64]  —  (12)  Account  of  an  Indian  raid  on  the 
English  frontier.  [§  65]  —  (13)  Franklin's  plan  of  colonial  union.  [§  68] 
—  (14) 'Story  of  the  removal  of  the  Acadians.  [§68]  —  (15)  The 
English  in  India.  [§68]  —  (16)  Why  did  France  give  up  Louisiana  in 
1763?  [§  69]  —  (17)  The  Proclamation  Line  of  1763.  [§  69] 


CHAPTER  VII 

COLONIAL   BUSINESS   (1750-1775) 
71.  THE  BUSINESS  SIDE  OF  LIFE 

HOWEVER  interested  the  colonists  were  in  wars  and  treaties, 
in  elections  and  governments,  in  schools  and  churches,  the 
thing  that  was  most  in  their  minds  and  about  which  they  prob- 
ably talked  most  was  —  how  to  make  a  living.  Even  the  Pil- 
grims (§  32)  had  to  face  that  question  because  they  were  heavily 
burdened  with  debt  when  they  arrived,  and  they  were  glad  to 
pay  it  off  out  of  the  profits  of  their  fur  trade  and  their  fishing. 
Some  writers-  on  American  history  believe  that  the  hard, 
practical,  and  material  side  of  colonial  life  was  the  most 
important ;  and  they  think  they  can  discover  the  real  motives 
and  influences  of  the  times  in  wheat  and  corn,  furs,  timber, 
and  other  products  of  the  land.  Without  for  a  moment 
accepting  the  doctrine  that  bread  and  butter  seemed  more 
important  to  the  colonists  than  political  liberty  or  eternal  sal- 
vation, we  must  admit  that  business  interests  and  business 
motives  were  stronger  influences  than  even  the  people  them- 
selves realized. 

The  movements  of  population  were  much  affected  by  the 
distribution  of  natural  resources.  The  French  were  drawn  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Dutch  to  the  Hudson  by  the  need  of 
reaching  the  furs.  The  first  prosperity  of  New  England  was 
due  chiefly  to  the  rich  fisheries  of  that  coast.  Virginia  and 
Maryland  grew  up  mainly  on  tobacco  planting.  The  most 
populous  towns,  such  as  Boston,  New  Haven,  New  York, 
107 


loS 


The  Business  Side  of  Life 


109 


Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Charleston  were  placed  on  the 
best  harbors.  It  was  perfectly  natural  that  newcomers  should 
seek  the  best  land,  the  best  ports,  and  the  places  best  situated 
for  trade. 

The  business  of  the  colonies  early  divided  itself  into  a  variety 
of  callings.  Probably  nine  tenths  of  all  the  people  down  to  the 
period  of  the  Revolution 
lived  on  farms  and  either 
worked  on  the  land  or 
were  busy  in  occupations 
directly  connected  with  the 
land,  such  as  carding  and 
spinning  wool,  making  tools, 
and  putting  up  farm  build- 
ings. The  greater  part  of 
the  other  tenth  were  sea- 
farers, including  fishermen 
and  the  officers  and  crews 
of  coasting  craft  and  of 
vessels  engaged  in  foreign 
trade.  Another  class  was 
that  of  handicraftsmen,  such  as  shoemakers,  saddlers,  car- 
penters, blacksmiths,  etc.,  who  plied  their  trades,  usually  in 
villages  or  hamlets,  where  they  could  find  customers.  Another 
group  was  employed  in  producing  goods  for  a  market,  instead 
of  for  particular  persons.  Such  were  the  millers,  makers 
of  pig  iron  and  of  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  and  builders  of  ships. 
Then  there  was  a  small  class  of  wealthy  men,  most  of  them 
merchants  and  shipowners,  with  a  few  large  landowners,  who 
carried  on  business  on  a  large  scale,  with  each  other  and  with 
foreign  merchants.  Many  of  the  colonists  could  turn  their 
hands  to  various  occupations.  Farmers  built  ships  in  winter 
and  their  sons  sailed  .them.  Carpenters  could  still  go  out 
lumbering.  There  was  no  large  class  of  wage-earning 
workmen. 


REMAINS  OF  A  COLONIAL  IRON  FURNACE. 


iio  Colonial  Business 

72.  THE  FARMER 

The  basis  and  support  of  every  colony  was  the  tillage  of  the 
soil;  and  the  most  numerous  class  of  the  population  was  that 
of  free  farming  families,  living  on  farms  that  would  supply  their 
owners  with  almost  every  need.  The  forest  trees  furnished 
building  material,  fuel,  and  timber  for  ships.  The  farmers 
raised  most  of  their  own  food,  for  corn  and  other  grains,  pork, 
mutton,  and  beef  were  common  farm  products. 

The  heaviest  labor  throughout  the  colonies  was  clearing 
new  land.  The  usual  method  was  to  girdle  the  trees,  and 
then  to  plant  a  first  crop  among  the  dead  timber ;  later,  to 
cut  the  trees  down,  roll  the  logs  together  into  piles,  and  burn 
them.  This  work  was  too  heavy  for  a  man  to  do  alone,  so 
neighbors  used  to  join  together  and  roll  the  logs,  first  for  one 
and  then  for  another.  Thence  is  derived  the  modern  term  of 
"logrolling,"  which  is  applied  to  members  of  a  legislature  who 
combine  to  support  each  other's  measures.  The  stumps  often 
remained  an  impediment  for  many  years.  In  New  England, 
also,  the  bowlders  were  an  obstacle  to  farming  and  were  rolled 
away  or  holes  were  dug  to  receive  them.  It  was  this  hard  labor 
that  made  land  valuable ;  uncleared  land  could  be  had  almost 
for  the  asking. 

The  principal  crop  was  Indian  corn,  which  was  a  staple 
article  of  food  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  eaten  in  the  various 
forms  of  mush  or  "hasty  pudding,"  succotash,  roasting  ears, 
Indian  pudding,  corn  cake,  and  hoecake.  Wheat  and  other 
grains  were  grown  from  New  England  to  Virginia,  for  wheat 
bread  was  widely  preferred  to  corn.  A  little  before  the  Revo- 
lution there  sprang  up  a  brisk  export  of  wheat  to  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Vegetables  were  grown  by  farmers  for  their  own 
use,  and  most  townspeople  cultivated  vegetable  gardens. 

The  colonists  did  not  put  up  ice  and  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
method  of  canning  food,  so  that  they  were  dependent  to  a  large 
degree  on  salt  fish,  salt  pork,  and  salt  beef  for  their  animal  food. 


The  Planter  in 

Clams  and  oysters,  however,  were  abundant  and  made  up  almost 
the  entire  food  of  some  poor  families.  Game  was  still  abundant 
in  or  near  most  communities,  and  venison,  wild  turkey,  and 
bear  meat  were  welcome  additions  to  the  table.  Most  farmers 
had  orchards.  Much  fruit  was  put  in  store  for  the  winter,  and 
part  of  it  was  converted  into  preserves,  peach  butter,  and 
apple  butter.  Molasses  was  imported  from  the  West  Indies ; 
and  in  the  northern  states,  large  quantities  of  sugar  were  made 
Indian  fashion  from  maple  sap.  Coffee  and  chocolate  were  not 
much  used,  but  tea  was  a  highly  prized  and  widely  distributed 
luxury. 

Part  of  the  apples  went  to  the  cider  mill  to  be  turned  into 
cider,  which'  was  a  drink  widely  used.  Still  stronger  beverages, 
distilled  from  cider  and  peach  juice,  were  "applejack"  and 
peach  brandy.  Imported  gin  and  West  India  or  New  England 
rum  were  common ;  and  those  who  could  afford  it  drank 
wine,  especially  Madeira  imported  from  the  Madeira  Islands. 
Alcoholic  liquors  were  used  without  stint  and  caused  a  vast 
amount  of  drunkenness. 

Besides  the  food  crops,  the  farmers  of  the  northern  and 
middle  colonies  raised  cattle  for  sale  and  large  numbers  of 
sheep,  from  the  wool  of  which  most  of  the  people  were  clothed. 
Few  farmers  had  a  surplus  that  could  be  turned  into  cash, 
but  they  could  trade  their  crops  and  butter,  cheese,  honey,  and 
other  products  to  the  storekeeper  for  necessary  supplies. 

73.  THE  PLANTER 

South  of  Pennsylvania,  agriculture  was  in  general  of  a  dif- 
ferent type.  The  staple  crop  was  tobacco,  which  exhausted 
the  land  so  that  there  was  a  constant  process  of  clearing  new 
soil  and  letting  the  old  fields  go  out  of  cultivation.  Grain  and 
cattle  were  raised  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  but  south  of 
Virginia  it  was  difficult  to  raise  cattle  on  account  of  the  ticks  and 
other  pests  in  the  woods.  Farther  south  the  soil  was  not  suitable 
for  grain,  except  that  rice  was  raised  in  the  coast  swamps  of 
MART'S  NKW  AMKR.  HIST.  —  8 


ii2  Colonial  Business 

South  Carolina  and  Georgia.     In  Maryland  and  Virginia  there 
was  a  class  of  farmers  working  their  own  land,  just  as  in  the 
states  farther  north ;   but  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  these 
independent   farmers   degener- 
ated into  a  shiftless  folk  who 
came  eventually  to  be  known 
as      "poor      whites,"      "sand 
hillers,"  and  "red  necks." 

The  typical  southern  land- 
owner and  raiser  of  crops  was 
the  slave-owning  planter.  A 
few  such  planters  could  be  found 
in  Rhode  Island  and  New  York  ; 
more  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Maryland ;  but  from  Virginia 
southward  they  were  the  domi- 
nant class  in  the  community. 
COLONIAL  They  raised  corn  for  the  food 
of  the  slaves,  and  half- wild 
hogs,  often  called  "  razorbacks," 
ran  through  the  woods.  The 
expression  "hog  and  hominy"  came  to  be  jocularly  applied  to 
the  diet  of  most  of  the  people.  Yams  and  other  vegetables 
could  be  easily  grown,  but  few  plantations  had  vegetable  gardens. 
In  the  quarter  century  before  the  Revolution,  the  southern 
planters  were  not  fortunate.  Tobacco  was  very  low-priced. 
Indigo  could  be  grown  only  in  South  Carolina  and  rice  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  One  of  the  few  exports  was  "naval 
stores,"  —  that  is,  pitch,  tar,  and  turpentine,  products  of  the 
abundant  pine  forests, — but  this  was  not  a  planter's  crop. 
Cotton  was  not  yet  recognized  as  a  paying  crop. 

The  richest  of  the  southern  planters  were  men  of  high  breeding 
and  gallant  spirit.  Take  for  example  Colonel  William  Fitz- 
hugh,  a  lawyer,  a  keen  planter  and  slave  buyer,  and  a  capable 
business  man,  owner  of  fifty-four  thousand  acres  of  land.  He 


HEADDRESS  OF  A 
LADY.  (The  wife  of  Benjamin 
Rush,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.) 


White  Laborers  113 

grew  flax  and  hemp,  hay  and  tobacco,  and  put  his  large  profits 
into  more  land  and  slaves.  He  had  a  home  plantation  of  a 
thousand  acres,  including  a  "very  good  dwelling  house  with 
many  rooms  in  it,  four  of  the  best  of  them  hung  &  nine  of  them 
plentifully  furnished  with  all  things  necessary  &  convenient, 
&  all  houses  for  use  furnished  with  brick  chimneys,  four  good 
Cellars,  a  Dairy,  Dovecot,  Stable,  Barn,  Henhouse,  Kitchen  & 
all  other  conveniencys,"  together  with  an  orchard,  garden, 
water  gristmill  for  wheat  and  corn,  a  stock  of  tobacco  and  good 
debts.  His  yearly  income  was  estimated  at  sixty  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco  (about  $15,00x3  in  money),  besides  the 


BYRD  MANSION,  WESTMORELAND,  VIRGINIA. 

increase  of  the  negroes.  His  tobacco  he  shipped  direct  to 
England  from  the  private  wharf  of  his  own  plantation,  and  he 
was  accustomed  to  order  fine  clothing,  silverware,  books,  and 
other  English  goods. 

74.  WHITE  LABORERS 

In  all  the  colonies  there  was  a  class  of  white  men  working 
for  wages  for  landowners  and  other  employers.  Some  of  the 
first  colonists  of  New  England  brought  with  them  such  hired 


ii4  Colonial  Business 

servants.  It  was  difficult  to  hold  them,  for  the  more  industrious 
among  them  saved  their  wages,  bought  land,  and  set  up  for 
themselves.  Hence  a  system  of  forced  white  labor  began  im- 
mediately. Convicts,  criminals,  prisoners  in  the  civil  wars, 
and  children,  were  sent  over  as  bond  servants.  Other  thou- 
sands of  respectable  men  and  families  came  over  as  "redemp- 
tioners,"  under  agreement  with  the  shipmaster  that  he  might 
sell  their  services  for  a  term  of  years  to  somebody  in  America 
for  money  to  pay  their  passage.  Both  bond  servants  and 
redemptioners  were  subject  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  their 
masters  and  were  often  cruelly  treated.  Nevertheless,  many  of 
them  worked  out  their  terms  of  service,  became  prosperous 
members  of  the  community,  and  founded  families. 

The  respectable  colonists  strongly  protested  against  send- 
ing over  men  and  women  of  known  bad  character.  The  de- 
mand for  labor  was  met  partly  by  the  large  families  of  the  time. 
Many  farmers  had  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  children,  who  helped 
on  the  farm  and  in  the  abundant  housework,  and  saved  the 
expense  of  hired  laborers. 

In  the  trades,  skilled  laborers  might  earn  as  much  as  two 
shillings  a  day  (having  about  the  purchasing  power  of  $1.00 
nowadays)  and  their  board.  In  the  trades  such  as  harness 
making  and  blacksmithing  and  the  manufacture  of  wooden 
bowls,  and  also  in  the  shops  or  small  stores,  it  was  the  custom 
to  employ  apprentices  who  were  commonly  bound  to  serve  for 
seven  years,  and  who  lived  with  the  master's  family  but  were 
often  very  harshly  treated.  The  average  daily  wage  for  un- 
skilled laborers  would  not  buy  so  much  as  50  or  60  cents  in  our 
times.  While  most  provisions  were  cheap,  imported  articles 
were  always  expensive,  and  the  wage  earner  could  not  afford  to 
purchase  them. 

75.  THE  SLAVE 

Perhaps  a  third  of  all  the  hard  labor  in  the  colonies  after  1750 
was  performed  by  negro  slaves.  The  first  colonists  began  to 


The  Slave  115 

enslave  the  Indians,  but  the  red  men  were  sullen  and  revengeful 
and  rapidly  died  off  in  confinement.  The  first  importations 
of  slaves  were  made  from  the  West  Indies,  then  direct  from 
Africa  to  the  American  mainland.  Theirs  was  a  terrible  fate. 
Captured  by  fellow-Africans  in  raids  which  caused  the  destruc- 
tion of  nine  tenths  of  their  friends  and  kindred,  they  were 
brought  down  to  the  West  African  coast,  and  there  sold  for 
rum  and  iron  and  trinkets  to  white  men  who  brought  them 


DECK  PLANS  OF  A  SLAVER.     (Showing  stowage  of  nearly  500  persons 
in  a  3Oo-ton  ship.) 

over  to  an  unknown  country  and  distributed  them  through  the 
colonies.  The  negroes  spent  their  lives  in  bondage,  transmitted 
the  obligations  of  a  slave  to  their  children,  and  were  shut  out 
from  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lived. 

In  most  of  'the  northern  colonies,  the  slaves  were  few  in 
number,  for  it  was  not  profitable  to  use  them  in  gangs  in  the 
fields,  and  they  were  held  chiefly  to  mark  the  wealth  and  posi- 
tion of  their  owners.  Thus  it  is  recorded  that  Madam  Wads- 
worth,  wife  of  the  president  of  Harvard  College,  owned  a  slave 
woman  named  Venus.  There  was  a  small  negro  population  in 


n6  Colonial  Business 

all  the  northern  seaports,  because  most  of  the  slave  ships  were 
run  by  New  Englanders.  In  the  South,  the  negroes  were  a 
small  proportion  till  after  1700 ;  but  by  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion they  were  a  third  of  the  southern  population,  and  in  South 
Carolina  counted  more  than  half. 

Slaves  were  cheap  and  their  labor  was  often  very  profitable ; 
but  they  could  be  held  only  in  defiance  of  the  great  English 
principle  that  all  men  are  free.  For  a  long  time  masters  would 
not  allow  their  slaves  to  be  baptized,  because  they  had  scruples 
against  holding  Christians  in  bondage.  Some  people  held 
that  slavery  was  both  unchristian  and  stupid.  Colonel  Byrd, 
a  slave  owner,  wrote  of  slaves,  "They  blow  up  the  pride  and 
ruin  the  Industry  of  our  White  People."  A  favorite  devotional 
book,  Baxter's  Christian  Directory,  warned  masters  that  "to  go 
as  Pirates  and  catch  up  poor  Negroes  or  people  of  another  land, 
and  to  make  them  slaves,  and  sell  them,  is  one  of  the  worst 
kinds  of  Thievery  in  the  World."  That  slavery  was  dangerous 
was  shown  by  severe  laws  against  slave  offenses,  and  by  slave 
insurrections  in  Virginia  and  in  South  Carolina,  and  a  supposed 
slave  plot  in  New  York  in  1741. 

76.  THE  TRADER  AND  THE  MERCHANT 

The  business  of  exchanging  products  and  bringing  manufac- 
tures within  reach  of  the  people  was  carried  on  by.  a  class  of 
small  peddlers  and  storekeepers.  The  man  with  a  pack  on  his 
back  was  welcome  in  the  farmer's  kitchen,  where  he  tempted 
the  girls  with  ribbons,  the  boys  with  knives,  and  the  housewife 
with  tinware.  In  all  the  villages  and  in  many  places  in  the  open 
country,  little  shops  were  set  up  which  corresponded  to  the 
modern  country  "general  stores."  Mrs.  Knight,  a  lively  New 
England  traveler,  in  1704  wrote  about  the  local  business  men  of 
New  Haven  :  "They  give  the  title  of  merchant  to  every  trader ; 
who  Rate  their  Goods  according  to  the  time  and  spetia  they 
pay  in :  viz.  Pay,  mony,  Pay  as  mony,  and  trusting.  Pay  is 
Grain,  Pork,  Beef,  &c.  at  the  prices  sett  by  the  General  Court 


The  Trader  and  the  Merchant 


117 


that  Year ;  many  is  pieces  of  Eight,  Ryalls,  or  Boston  or  Bay 
shillings  (as  they  call  them),  or  Good  hard  money,  as  sometimes 
silver  coin  is  termed  by  them  ;  also  Wampom,  viz.  Indian  beads 
which  serves  for  change.  Pay  as  many  is  provisions,  as  aforesaid, 


CHEW  HOUSE,  GERMANTOWN.     (Injured  by  cannon  balls  in  a  battle 
fought  at  this  place  in  1777;  still  standing.) 

one  Third  cheaper  then  as  the  Assembly  or  Gene  Court  setts  it ; 
and  Trust  as  they  and  the  merchant  agree  for  time." 

The  traders  were  usually  obliged  to  take  their  pay  in  "prod- 
uce," which  they  in  turn  sent  to  the  larger  places  in  payment 
for  their  goods.  Those  on  the  frontier  also  bought  the  Indian 
wares,  a  little  corn,  maple  sugar,  and  bead  work,  but  especially 
furs,  which  were  a  staple  commodity.  Another  class  of  traders 
circulated  through  the  frontiers  both  north  and  south  with 
their  pack  horses  loaded  with  blankets,  powder  and  ball,  guns, 
red  cloth,  hatchets,  knives,  scissors,  kettles,  paints,  looking- 
glasses,  tobacco,  beads,  and  "brandy,  which  the  Indians  value 


n8  Colonial  Business 

above  all  other  goods  that  can  be  brought  them."  One  of 
the  traders,  James  Adair,  wrote  an  account  of  his  experiences, 
and  complained  bitterly  that  disorderly  traders  "decoy  the  in- 
toxicated savages  to  defraud  the  old  fair  dealer  every  winter, 
of  many  thousand  pounds  of  dressed  deer-skin,  by  the  enchant- 
ing force  of  liquors."  Adair  was  a  "squaw  man,"  who  was 

proud  of  his  wife,  whom 
he  called  a  "Chickasaw 
princess." 

Very  different  from  these 
hand-to-mouth  traders 
were  the  well-to-do  mer- 
chants of  the  large  towns. 
At  that  time  there  were  no 
business  companies  char- 
tered by  the  colonies  except 
for  marine  insurance,  and 
no  private  or  public  banks. 
The  rich  merchants  were 
the  only  large  manufac- 
turers and  forwarders,  and 
they  also  acted  as  bankers, 
for  they  would  receive 
money  from  their  neigh- 
bors, pay  it  over  sea,  and 
collect  accounts  at  either 
end  of  the  line.  Their 
principal  business  was  to 
buy  the  products  of  the  country  and  exchange  them  for  foreign 
imports ;  to  that  end  they  often  took  ships  in  payment  for  goods 
or  built  ships  and  freighted  their  own  craft  to  distant  ports.  One 
of  the  most  famous  of  these  merchants  was  William  Phips,  who 
began  life  as  a  poor  boy,  with  one  ambition  —  to  be  "owner  of 
a  Fair  Brick-House  in  the  Green-Lane  of  North  Boston." 
He  traded,  gathered  property,  organized  an  expedition  to  raise 


CHILDREN'S  COSTUME  OF  ABOUT  1776. 
(Worn  by  the  author's  children.) 


Shipping  and  Sailors  119 

the  treasure  of  a  sunken  Spanish  vessel,  got  about  £300,000 
in  gold  and  silver,  was  knighted,  became  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  owned  his  "fair  brick-house." 

Among  the  most  famous  merchant  houses  about  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  were  the  Morrises  of  Philadelphia  and  the 
Hancocks  of  Boston.  John  Hancock  lived  in  a  stately  house 
fronting  on  Boston  Common,  with  a  ballroom  60  feet  long, 
and  furniture,  wall  paper,  and  hangings  imported  from 
England.  He  had  beautiful  mahogany  furniture,  elegant  table 
silver,  and,  like  other  rich  men  of  his  time,  dressed  in  magnifi- 
cent silk  and  velvet  suits.  He  had  his  picture  painted  by  a  good 
artist,  and  felt  himself  to  be  one  of  the  principal  men  of  his  time. 

77.  SHIPPING  AND  SAILORS 

In  New  England  and  the  middle  colonies,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal pursuits  for  men  of  all  classes  was  following  the  sea,  and 
they  drew  large  wealth  from  the  briny  deep  in  several  different 
ways: 

(1)  The  fisheries  were  a  steady  source  of  employment  and 
profit.     The  New  Englanders  had  access  to  the  banks  fisheries 
south  of  Newfoundland,  to  the  offshore  fisheries,  especially  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Cape  Cod,  and  to  very  valuable  inshore 
fisheries.     Their  principal  catch  was  cod  and  mackerel,  which 
provided   part    of    the    daily  food    of    a  large    part    of    the 
population   and   furnished  a  valuable   export.      The  fisheries 
were  nurseries  for  merchant  seamen  and  helped  to   man    the 
ships  of  war  in  the  naval  wars. 

(2)  Shipbuilding  was  a  flourishing  industry  all  along  the  coast 
from  Maryland  north,  especially  where,  as  in  Maine,  splendid 
forests  of  tall  timber  grew  alongside  of  deep  salt  water.     Ship- 
building was  a  boon  to  New  England,  for  it  gave  winter  em- 
ployment to  the  farmers ;  and  when  the  ship  was  built  it  was 
manned  by  farmers'  sons,  and  commanded  by  a  farmer's  son. 
American  ships  brought  good  prices  in  foreign  markets  and 
were  an  important  export. 


i2o  Colonial  Business 

(3)  The  business  of  sailing  ships,  on  coasting  voyages  and  on 
voyages  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  European  ports,  was  large 
and  gave  employment  to  thousands  of  men.  Yankee  ships  found 
their  way  to  the  Mediterranean  and  to  Africa.  These  long 
voyages,  far  out  of  reach  of  mails,  made  it  necessary  to  place 
a  large  responsibility  on  the  sea  captain,  who  often  showed 
amazing  pluck,  skill,  and  endurance. 

78.   COMMERCE 

A  lively  and  profitable  commerce  went  on  all  the  time  from 
colony  to  colony,  from  the  continent  to  the  West  Indies,  and 

from  all  the  colonies 
to  England  and  other 
European  countries. 
The  principal  exports 
were :  to  the  West 
Indies,  clapboards, 
hoops,  shingles,  hay 
and  cattle,  flour  and 
provisions,  especially 
dried  fish,  and  (later) 
rum ;  to  England, 
tobacco,  masts,  wood 
ashes,  furs,  and  (later) 
pig  iron,  rice,  and 
indigo ;  to  other  Euro- 
pean countries,  dried 
fish  and  naval  stores 
—  pitch,  tar,  and 
turpentine. 


To  the    PUBLIC. 

THE  FLYING  MACHINE,    kept  by 
John  Mcri-ereau.  at    the    New   BllzmK-5(jr.  Ferry 
near  NYw  York,   lets  off  from  Po 
Hay,  Wednefday,  .and  Friday  M,,, 
and  p.rf. 


Hook  rv«ry     Mor,. 
gj,  for  Philadelphia, 
ry  in  a  Day  and  a  Half,  lor  the 
(ft  cf    November  (  from  (hat  Tm»e 
togol-ice    a    Week     till    (he  firft    of   May,  «,ntn    they 
agtin  perform  il  three  Times  a  Week.      When  t|,,  Stagc'i 


I  perform!  Ilio  J 
Summer  Seafon,  til 


hnrf. 

dayi.  The  Waggons  in  Philadelphia  fel  out  Irom  the 
Sign  bf'  (he  George,  in  Second-lire*;*,  the  fame  Morning 
The  PalTrngers  are  d.lired  locrofs  Ihe  Ferry  Ifw  Evening 
before,  AJ  Ihe  Stages  mud  fel  off  early  Hie  next  Morntns 
The  Price  for rai-h  PdfTenS<-r  is  Tw«n>  SMtingi,  Proc.  and 
Goods  ai  ufual.  Ptlftngtrs  going  Part  of  the  Way  to  pay 
in  Proportion. 

As  the  Proprietor    has   mad*  iuch   Improvements  upon 
Ih.  Machine,,  one  of  ^hich  is   in  Imitation  of   a  Co£h 
-.     he  ho(xs  10  m<ri(  the  favour  of    'he  Publick. 

JOHN  MERCEREAU. 


ADVERTISEMENT  OF  THE  "  FLYING  MACHINE.' 
(A  Post  wagon  of  1771.) 


The  imports  from  England  were  manufactures  of  all  kinds  — 
guns  and  ammunition,  hardware,  cutlery,  clothing,  furniture, 
glass,  china,  silverware,  and  tools.  Tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate 
were  regular  imports,  often  from  Holland.  The  ladies 
would  have  their  "calamancoes,"  or  glossy  woolens1,  their 


Commerce  121 

"paduasoys,"  or  silks,  their  "oznabrigs,"  or  German  linen, 
and  the  much-prized  pins.  For  children,  merchants  imported 
"poppets,"  or  dolls,  and  other  toys;  for  the  gentlemen,  silks 
and  velvets,  gold  lace  for  their  best  suits,  and  "  pipes  "  of  wine. 


A  COLONIAL  FAMILY  —  THE  GRIMES  CHILDREN.     (From  the  picture 
in  the  Virginia  Historical  Society.) 

Several  new  branches  of  trade  developed  after  1700,  espe- 
rially  the  African  slave  trade.  Under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
(1713)  an  English  company,  in  which  Queen  Anne  was  one 
of  the  partners,  got  the  Asiento,  or  privilege  of  carrying  slaves 
from  Africa  to  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  The  New  Englanders 
were  quick  to  work  up  a  profitable  slave  trade  for  themselves. 
Very  few  people  protested  against  the  trade  or  its  shocking 
cruelties ;  and  whenever  the  legislatures  of  the  colonies 
tried  to  tax  it  for  revenue,  or  for  any  other  reason,  the  bills 


122  Colonial  Business 

were  vetoed  in  England  because  the  trade  was  so  profitable  to 
the  English  merchant. 

Eventually  so  many  slaves  were  brought  that  the  people 
began  to  be  frightened,  and  South  Carolina  several  times  tried 
to  lay  duties  on  their  importation.  The  slave  traffic  was  con- 
nected with  the  manufacture  of  rum,  which  was  carried  to 
Africa  to  be  exchanged  for  slaves;  part  of  the  slaves  were 
carried  to  the  West  Indies  and  exchanged  for  molasses;  and 
the  molasses  and  the  profits  were  brought  home  to  New 
England  to  furnish  raw  material  for  more  rum.  The  colo- 
nists liked  to  buy  from  the  French  and  Spanish  West  Indies, 
but  in  the  year  1733  the  British  government  passed  the 
so-called  "Molasses  Act,"  which  was  intended  to  compel 
them  to  get  their  molasses  only  from  the  British  West 
India  colonies. 

79.   CURRENCY  AND  PAPER  MONEY 

The  standing  difficulty  in  all  kinds  of  business  was  the  lack 
of  a  uniform  and  unvarying  currency.  The  standard  money 
basis  of  business  and  accounts  was  the  English  pound.  Among 
the  coins  were  gold  guineas  (21  shillings),  and  silver  pieces 
from  five  shillings  down.  The  conditions  of  trade  with  the 
West  Indies  brought  in  a  varied  mass  of  coins  of  all  nations, 
especially  the  Mexican  dollar.  The  name  is  derived  from  the 
"Joachims thaler,"  a  silver  piece  coined  in  Austria,  which 
became  a  standard  in  America.  This  mixed  silver  and  gold 
currency  was  further  confused  by  the  issuance  of  paper 
money  by  the  colonists,  beginning  with  £40,000  printed  by 
Massachusetts  in  1690.  Later,  Massachusetts  and  other  col- 
onies issued  paper  money  and  lent  it  to  farmers  on  real  estate 
security.  This  brought  about  a  depreciation  and  loss  through- 
out the  colonies,  so  that  the  British  government  (1761-1763) 
prohibited  the  issue  of  paper  money.  A  dollar  was  worth 
about  four  shillings  in  silver,  but  six  Massachusetts  paper 
shillings  went  for  a  dollar;  eight  New  York  paper  shillings 


Navigation  Acts  123 

were  required  for  the  same  value ;  and  there  was  a  time  when 
a  Rhode  Island  note  for  ten  pounds  would  not  buy  the  value 
of  ten  shillings  in  specie. 

80.  NAVIGATION  ACTS 

For  many  years  the  colonists  freely  sent  and  received  car- 
goes in  trade  with  foreign  countries;  but  the  policy  of  the 
early  Navigation  Acts  was  expanded  by  an  act  of  Parliament 
(1672)  laying  small  customs  duties  on  the  trade  from  one  colony 
to  another,  or  to  other  countries  than  England.  This  was  the 
first  act  of  Parliament  for  taxing  the  colonies.  In  1696  a 
more  thoroughgoing  navigation  act  was  passed  by  Parliament. 
Under  these  and  other  later  "Acts  of  Trade,"  the  commerce 
of  the  colonies  was  restricted  as  follows : 

(i)  Trade  to  and  from  England  had  to  be  carried  on  in  ships 
built  and  owned  in  England  or  in  the  colonies.  (2)  Importa- 
tions had  to  come  through  English  ports;  that  is,  through 
the  hands  of  English  firms.  (3)  Exports  of  "enumerated  goods  " 
had  to  be  sent  only  to  English  ports,  even  if  intended  ultimately 
for  some  other  country ;  most  of  the  colonial  products  were 
enumerated,  such  as  tobacco,  sugar,  molasses,  and  furs,  but  not 
fish  or  provisions,  timber,  and  the  standard  "naval  stores." 
(4)  For  the  protection  of  English  manufactures,  colonists  were 
virtually  forbidden  to  make  rolled  iron,  or  to  ship  certain  goods 
from  one  colony  to  another  —  for  instance,  hats  which  might 
compete  with  English  hats.  Though  all  these  restrictions  seem 
harsh  they  indirectly  gave  a  distinct  advantage  to  colonial 
shipping. 

Spain,  France,  and  Holland  had  even  stricter  colonial  sys- 
tems than  the  English ;  but  the  English  colonists,  sometimes 
by  stealth,  often  with  the  connivance  of  local  officials,  managed 
to  carry  on  a  very  profitable  trade  with  the  Spanish,  French, 
and  Dutch  West  Indies,  especially  in  dried  fish  and  lumber ;  and 
they  brought  back  molasses,  tropical  products,  and  a  good  sur- 
plus of  hard  dollars,  commonly  called  "  pieces  of  eight."  In  the 


124  Colonial  Business 

same  way  foreign  vessels  often  brought  European  cargoes  into 
North  America,  in  defiance  of  the  Navigation  Acts. 

8 1.   REVIEW 

By  far  the  larger  part  of  the  English  colonists  were  farmers, 
whose  first  task  was  to  clear  the  soil,  so  that  they  might  grow 
crops.  In  most  places  food,  both  vegetable  and  animal,  was 
abundant.  Besides  the  small  farmers  of  the  South,  a  class  of 
slave-owning  planters  raised  corn,  tobacco,  rice,  and  indigo. 
Cotton  was  not  then  a  paying  crop.  Rich  planters  such  as 
Colonel  Fitzhugh  lived  handsomely. 

Part  of  the  hard  labor  was  done  by  white  wage-servants, 
or  white  indentured  servants.  There  was  a  small  class  of 
skilled  workmen  in  trades  and  some  free  negroes.  In  both 
North  and  South  negro  slaves  existed,  many  of  them  brought 
direct  from  Africa.  An  antislavery  movement  began  very  early. 

Peddlers  and  country  storekeepers  bought  small  stocks  of  im- 
ported goods  and  sold  them  for  farm  products,  furs,  or  money. 
Traders  penetrated  beyond  the  frontier  and  bought  skins  and 
furs  from  the  Indians.  In  the  large  seaports  a  small  number  of 
wealthy  merchants  built  fine  houses,  and  lived  splendidly. 

The  principal  calling  besides  farming  was  that  of  seafaring, 
including  fisheries,  shipbuilding,  and  sailing  the  ships.  A  good 
trade  was  carried  on  to  the  West  Indies,  another  to  England, 
and  a  smaller  limited  trade  to  other  European  countries.  The 
slave  trade  was  also  profitable  and  was  linked  up  with  the  trade 
in  molasses  from  the  West  Indies. 

The  colonies  lacked  a  good  currency,  for  their  gold  and  silver 
coins  were  much  mixed.  Some  of  them  issued  paper  money, 
but  it  was  hurtful  to  business  and  was  finally  prohibited.  After 
1660  Parliament  passed  "Acts  of  Trade"  which  were  intended 
to  throw  colonial  commerce  as  far  as  possible  toward  English 
ports  and  through  English  firms,  and  to  prevent  the  importation 
of  goods  from  other  countries.  Many  colonists  evaded  these 
laws  by  active  smuggling. 


References  and  Topics  125 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  map,  p.  108.  Coman,  Indust.  Hist., 
52,  64,  75,  80.  —  Semple,  Geogr.  Conditions,  ch.  vii. 

Secondary.  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  iii-vi.  —  Channing,  U.S.,  II. 
chs.  xiii,  xvii.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  ch.  Hi.  —  Dewey,  Finan.  Hist., 
ch.  i.  —  Fiske,  Dutch  and  Quaker  Cols.,  II.  222-235,  285-293 ;  Old  Va.,  II. 
174-203,  325-331,  338-369.  —  Greene,  Provincial  Am.,  chs.  xvi,  xvii.  — 
Jacobstein,  Tobacco  Industry,  ch.  i.  —  Locke,  Anti-Slavery  in  Am., 
9-45.  —  Morriss,  Col.  Trade  of  Md.  —  Peabody,  Merchant  Venturers 
of  Salem.  —  Stockton,  Buccaneers  and  Pirates. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  no.  19.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson, 
Readings,  20-142.  —  Callender,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  ii,  iii.  —  Hart,  Con- 
temporaries, II.  §§45,  46,  88,  89;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  153- 
156,  180-183,  i9I~I94,  23O. — James,  Readings,  §§25-27.  —  Mac- 
Donald,  Select  Charters,  nos.  22,  23,  25,  28,  34,  43,  50. 

Illustrative.  Carruthers,  Knights  of  the  Horseshoe  (Va.).  —  Earle, 
Stage-Coach  and  Tavern  Days.  —  Ingraham,  Captain  Kyd- — Johnston, 
Audrey  (Va.).  — Stockton,  Kate  Bonnet  (pirates). 

Pictures.     A  very,   U.S.,  III.  —  Dunbar,  Hist,  of  Travel  in  Am. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  The  fur  trade  of  the  French  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  of  the 
Dutch  on  the  Hudson.  [§  71]  —  (2)  Life  on  a  Virginia  plantation.  [§  73] 
—  (3)  Indentured  white  servants.  [§  74]  —  (4)  Slave  trade  in  Africa, 
or  across  the  Atlantic.  [§  75]  —  (5)  Slaves  in  the  northern  colonies, 
or  in  Virginia,  or  in  South  Carolina.  [§  75]  —  (6)  Antislavery  writers 
before  1720.  [§  75]  —  (7)  Colonial  shipbuilding.  [§  77]  —  (8)  Trade  in 
one  of  the  following  products  :  ashes ;  naval  stores ;  fish  ;  iron  ;  furs. 
[§  ?8]  —  (9)  Coin  in  the  colonies.  [§  79]  —  (10)  Incidents  of  the  paper 
money  craze.  [§  79] 


Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Iron  furnaces  before  1775.  [§  71]  — (12)  Regulation  of  liquor 
selling  before  1775.  [§  72]  —  (13)  Account  of  one  of  the  following 
classes  from  1750  to  1775:  poor  white  farmers;  apprentices;  Indian 
traders;  merchant  princes.  [§§  73,  76]  —  (14)  The  banks  fisheries  in 
colonial  times.  [§  77]  —  (15)  The  Molasses  Act.  [§  78]  —  (16)  \Yhut 
were  "enumerated  goods"?  [§  80]  —  (17)  Colonial  smuggling.  [§  80] 


CHAPTER  VIII 


CAUSES  AND  COURSE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  (1763-1781) 
82.   SPIRIT  OF  UNREST 

CONSIDERING  the  prosperity  of  the  English  colonies  and  the 
freedom  of  their  government,  we  often  wonder  that  as  soon 
as  the  French  and  Indian  War  was  over,  they  began  to  get  into 
trouble  with  the  home  government;  and  that  after  about  ten 
years  of  friction  and  strife,  they  revolted  and  set  up  a  govern- 
ment for  themselves.  To  this  day,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  just 
why  the  colonists  felt  so  dissatisfied.  They  professed  and 
doubtless  felt  the  warmest  attachment  to  the  king,  whom  God 
and  Parliament  had  provided 
for  them.  They  read  English 
books,  wore  English  clothes, 
and  felt  high  respect  for  English 
visitors.  After  the  crisis,  John 
Adams  said  that  nobody  in  the 
colonies  had  desired  or  planned 
independence  before  the  Revo- 
lution. 

The  great  reason  for  the 
division  of  the  British  Empire 
into  two  parts  seems  to  be  that 
t|he  colonists  were  so  free  and 
GEORGE  III,  ABOUT  1765.  (From  /id  so  many  things  for  them- 
a  painting  by  Sir  William  Beechy.)  £ejves  that  they  could  not  see 

why  they  should  not  be  relieved  from  almost  all  restraints.     One 

reason  for  a  change  of  feeling  was  the  coming  to  the  throne  of 

126 


Spirit  of  Unrest 


127 


young  King  George  III  (1760).  His  predecessors,  George  I  and 
George  II,  were  Germans  who  had  little  interest  in  their  English 
kingdom.  George  III  said,  "Born  and  bred  in  this  country,  I 
glory  in  the  name  of  Briton."  His  mother  used  to  say  to  him, 
"George,  be  a  king";  and  he 
soon  began  systematically  to  get 
away  from  the  control  by  Par- 
liament and  to  build  up  a 
personal  government. 

Opposed  to  the  king's  policy 
was  a  group  of  brilliant  states- 
men, of  whom  the  most  famous 
were  William  Pitt  (later  Earl  of 
Chatham),  Charles  James  Fox, 
and  Edmund  Burke ;  they  coun- 
seled wise  and  moderate  dealing 
with  the  colonies. 

A  new  spirit  began  to  stir 
among  the  colonists  when  the 
danger  of  invasion  by  French 
neighbors  ceased  forever  in  1763. 
As  the  French  statesman  Turgot 
had  said,  "Colonies  are  like 
fruits :  they  stick  to  the  tree 
only  while  they  are  green ;  as 
soon  as  they  can  take  care  of  themselves  they  do  what 
Carthage  did  and  what  America  will  do." 

On  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  the  home  government 
also  showed  a  new  spirit  by  attempts  to  stiffen  the  Navigation 
Acts  and  to  stop  the  evasions  (§  80).  In  1764  a  new  "Sugar 
Act"  was  passed  (§78)  which  laid  a  tax  on  sugar  and  coffee 
and  other  tropical  products  imported  from  any  but  the  British 
WeSt  India  colonies;  the  molasses  duty  was  much  reduced. 
Then  followed  in  1765  the  first  general  tax  ever  laid  by  Par- 
liament upon  the  English  colonies.  The  "Stamp  Act"  pro- 
HART'S  NEW  AMLR.  HIST. — 9 


STAMPS  USED  TO  TAX  THE 
COLONIES. 


128        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

vided  for  "certain  stamp  duties,  and  other  duties,  in  the 
British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  toward  further 
defraying  the  expenses  of  defending,  protecting,  and  secur- 
ing the  same."  The  duties  were  to  be  imposed  on  all  sorts  of 
legal  documents,  law  proceedings,  wills,  licenses  and  com- 
missions, land  patents,  bills  of  sale;  and  also  on  playing 
cards,  newspapers,  pamphlets,  advertisements,  almanacs,  and 
the  like.  The  proceeds  of  the  tax  (estimated  at  £100,000  a 
year)  were  to  go  toward  the  expense  of  troops  which  were  to 
be  sent  to  America  for  the  defense  of  the  colonies. 

83.   COLONIAL  IDEAS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CONSTITUTION 

Somehow  the  colonies  would  never  accept  the  British  assur- 
ance that  these  taxes  would  not  be  used  to  help  support  the 
British  government.  For  some  years  the  colonists  had  been 
trying  to  think  out  a  theory  of  their  relations  to  the  British 
Empire  which  would  make  such  action  by  Parliament  unlawful. 

A  brilliant  and  able  young  Massachusetts  lawyer  named 
James  Otis  argued  against  "writs  of  assistance"  (1761),  which 
authorized  British  customs  officers  to  search  any  private  house 
for  smuggled  goods.  He  raised  the  point  that  such  a  writ  was 
contrary  to  the  unwritten  law  of  American  liberty.  "Reason 
and  the  constitution  are  both  against  this  writ.  ...  All  prece- 
dents are  under  the  control  of  the  principles  of  law.  .  .  . 
No  acts  of  Parliament  can  establish  such  a  writ.  ...  An  act 
against  the  constitution  is  void."  John  Adams  said  of  him, 
"Otis  was  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  united  —  Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire 
—  Otis's  oration  against  writs  of  assistance  breathed  into  this 
nation  the  breath  of  life." 

Notwithstanding  Otis's  argument,  the  writs  of  assistance 
were  again  issued  in  Massachusetts ;  but  his  speech  and  his 
later  pamphlets  stated  three  principles  of  great  weight  in  the 
approaching  Revolution :  (i)  that  the  colonists  possessed 
certain  inalienable  personal  rights ;  (2)  that  there  was  a  tra- 
ditional system  of  colonial  government,  which  could  not  be 


Stamp  Act  Controversy  129 

altered  by  Great  Britain  without  the  consent  of  the  colonies; 
(3)  that  under  that  system  the  colonies  were  united  to  Great 
Britain  through  the  same  sovereign,  but  were  not  a  dependent 
part  of  Great  Britain,  nor  subject  to  Parliament. 

In  accordance  with  the  practice  of  a  century  and  a  half 
(§  57),  the  British  government  about  this  time  vetoed  a  statute  of 
Virginia  which  reduced  the  stipends  of  the  established  clergy. 
A  test  case  was  made  (1763),  commonly  called  "the  Parson's 
Cause,"  in  which  Patrick  Henry  gained  his  first  reputation  and 
also  won  the  jury  by  an  argument  that  there  was  a  limit  to  the 
legal  control  of  the  mother  country  over  colonial  legislation. 
In  a  bold  and  significant  phrase  he  declared  that  "a  King,  by 
.  .  .  disallowing  acts  of  so  salutary  a  nature,  from  being  the 
Father  of  his  people  degenerates  into  a  Tyrant,  and  forfeits 
all  rights  to  his  subjects'  obedience." 

84.   STAMP  ACT  CONTROVERSY  (1765) 

Against  the  Stamp  Act  (§  82),  the  best  writers  in  America 
poured  forth  a  flood  of  argument  and  protest;  and  they 
fashioned  phrases  which  were  the  watchwords  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

(1)  Taxation.     They  flatly  denied  the  right  of  any  one  to 
lay  taxes  within  the  colonies,  except  the  colonial  governments. 
As  one  writer  rhetorically  put  it,  "If  they  have  a  right  to  im- 
pose a  stamp  tax,  they  have  a  right  to  lay  on  us  a  poll  tax, 
a  land  tax,  a  window  tax ;  and  why  not  tax  us  for  the  light  of 
the  sun,  the  air  we  breathe,  and  the  ground  we  are  buried  in?" 

(2)  Representation.     To  cover  this  point  they  laid  down  the 
maxim  of  "No  taxation  without  representation";  and,  they 
argued,  how  could  they  be  represented  in  a  Parliament  thou- 
sands of  miles  away? 

(3)  Nature  of  colonial  government.     They  insisted  that  the 
colonists  had  an  inherited  right  not  to  be  ruled  in  such  matters 
by   Parliament.     As    the    Boston   merchant,    John   Hancock, 
said,  "I  will  never  carry  on  Business  under  such  great  disad- 


130        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

vantages  and  Burthen.  I  will  not  be  a  slave ;  I  have  a  right  to 
the  libertys  &  Privileges  of  the  English  Constitution,  and  I 
as  an  Englishman  will  enjoy  them." 

The  movement  passed  very  quickly  from  talk  to  outright 
opposition,  which  took  the  following  serious  forms : 

(1)  Some  of  the  colonial  assemblies  passed  strong  resolutions, 
such  as  Patrick  Henry's  Virginia  Resolutions,  which  declared 
"That  every  attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any  other  person  or 
persons  whatever   than   the    General   Assembly   aforesaid,    is 
illegal,  unconstitutional,  and  unjust,  and  has  a  manifest  tend- 
ency to  destroy  British  as  well  as  American  liberty." 

(2)  Two  more  quiet  but  effective   means  were   the   organi- 
zation of  "Sons  of  Liberty,"  a  kind  of  patriotic  society ;  and  an 
attempt  to  boycott  British  goods. 

(3)  In  many  places  mobs  made  discussion  impossible:  the 
stamps  were  seized,  stamp  distributors  were  threatened  and 
compelled  to  resign,  or  were  burned  in  effigy  before  their  own 
doors,  and  their  property  destroyed.     In    thus   forsaking   an 
orderly  government,  and  resorting  to  violence,  the  people  who 
engaged  in  these  outbreaks  damaged  their  own  cau^e. 

(4)  The  most  effective  method  was  the  holding  of  a  Stamp 
Act  Congress  of  delegates  from  nine  colonies,  in  New  York, 
October  7,  1765.     They  petitioned  the  British  government  to 
withdraw  the  act,  and  drew  up  a  formal  statement  of  "The 
most  essential  rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonists,  and  of  the 
grievances  under  which  they  labor." 

When  November  i  came,  the  date  for  putting  the  Stamp 
Act  in  force,  it  was  entirely  ignored,  and  documents  were  simply 
left  without  stamps.  Parliament  finally  decided  to  repeal  the 
act;  but  it  claimed  the  right  to  pass  acts  binding  upon  the 
colonies. 

85.   REVOLUTION  APPROACHING  (1767-1773) 

The  way  was  thus  kept  open  for  a  renewal  of  the  struggle. 
By  the  Townshend  Act  in  1767,  Parliament  laid  new  duties  on 


Revolution  Approaching  131 

paper,  painter's  colors,  glass,  and  tea  imported  into  the  colonies, 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  the  salaries  of  the  colonial  governors 
and  judges.  The  result  was  a  warm  protest.  John  Dickinson  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  his  Letters  from  a  Farmer,  called  upon  his  coun- 
trymen by  practical  and  law-abiding  methods  to  "  take  care  of 
our  rights,  and  we  therein  take  care  of  our  prosperity  .  .  .  slavery 
is  ever  preceded  by  sleep."  Nonimportation  agreements  were 
made  in  many  parts  of  the  colonies  and  signed  by  men  like 
George  Washington.  Soon  after  (1768),  two  regiments  of  red- 
coats were  ordered  to  Boston  "to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the 
government  in  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay."  As  a 
witty  Boston  clergyman  said,  "Our  grievances  are  now  all 
red-dressed." 

The  coming  of  troops,  intended  to  overawe  and  not  to  defend, 
incensed  all  the  colonies.  In  March,  1770,  there  was  a  fight 
between  the  troops  and  the  populace  in  Boston  in  which  five 
persons  were  killed.  The  unsuitable  name  of  "Boston  Mas- 
sacre" was  applied  to  the  unfortunate  affair.  The  offensive 
Townshend  duties  were  withdrawn  in  1770  after  producing 
£16,000  at  a  cost  of  about  £200,000;  but  the  British  gov- 
ernment stupidly  insisted  on  the  principle  of  taxation,  by 
leaving  in  force  the  former  tea  duty  of  threepence  a  pound. 

Feeling  ran  especially  high  in  Massachusetts,  where  the 
struggle  became  almost  a  personal  contest  between  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  the  governor,  and  Samuel  Adams,  leader  of  the 
popular  party.  Hutchinson's  letters  to  friends  in  England, 
urging  that  "there  must  be  an  abridgement  of  what  are  called 
English  liberties,"  gave  great  offense  to  the  colonists. 

Things  grew  so  squally  that  in  1772  Samuel  Adams  obtained 
from  the  Boston  town  meeting  the  appointment  of  a  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence  "to  state  the  Rights  of  the  colonists 
and  of  this  Province  in  particular  ...  to  communicate  and 
publish  the  same  to  the  several  Towns  in  this  Province  and  to 
the  World."  A  "continental  committee"  was  subsequently 
starterl  by  Virginia,  and  eleven  other  colonies  appointed  similar 


132        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

committees,  which  corresponded  with  each  other  and  prepared 
for  later  joint  action. 

The  climax  was  reached  by  the  effort  of  the  British  East 
India  Company  to  send  shipments  of  tea  to  the  principal  co- 
lonial ports.  The  tea  duty  was  not  much  felt,  because  the 
colonists  usually  drank  smuggled  tea ;  but  to  help  the  British 
East  India  Company  out  of  financial  difficulties,  the  home 
government  gave  it  such  privileges  that  it  was  able  to  under- 
sell the  smugglers,  and  in  August,  1773,  tea  ships  were  dis- 
patched to  the  principal  colonial  ports.  If  the  tea  were  landed 
and  the  duty  paid,  the  right  of  taxation  was  admitted.  Hence, 
upon  the  arrival  of  the  tea  ships  in  Philadelphia,  New  York, 
and  some  other  places,  they  were  sent  back  without  unloading. 
Efforts  to  this  end  in  Boston  were  foiled ;  but  a  meeting  of 
five  or  six  thousand  people  was  held  in  and  around  the  Old 
South  Church  in  Boston  (December  16,  1773)  to  make  a  final 
protest  against  the  landing  of  the  tea.  Suddenly  a  war  whoop 
was  heard  outside,  and  two  hundred  men  boarded  the  ships 
and  flung  into  the  sea  tea  worth  £18,000  (about  $90,000). 
An  eyewitness  says:  "They  say  the  actors  were  Indians  from 
Narragansett.  Whether  they  were  or  not,  to  a  transient  ob- 
server they  appear'd  as  such,  being  cloath'd  in  Blankets 
with  the  heads  muffled,  and  copper-color'd  countenances." 
Children  who  next  morning  found  their  fathers'  shoes  full  of 
tea  kept  their  own  counsel. 

86.   FIRST  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  (1774) 

To  the  royal  government  in  England,  the  Boston  Tea  Party 
appeared  to  be  an  act  of  outrageous  violence,  for  which  Boston 
and  Massachusetts  deserved  such  a  punishment  as  would  give 
warning  to  the  other  colonies.  Hence  a  set  of  statutes  some- 
times called  "The  Intolerable  Acts"  was  hastily  passed  by 
Parliament  (1774):  the  port  of  Boston  was  thereby  closed; 
the  charter  of  Massachusetts  was  set  aside ;  and  town  meetings 
were  forbidden.  To  put  these  measures  into  force,  General 


First  Continental  Congress  133 

Thomas  Gage  was  sent  over  to  be  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
The  Salem  merchants  offered  their  wharves  to  their  Boston 
brethren,  and  from  south  to  north  came  expressions  of  sym- 
pathy with  Massachusetts.  By  this  time  resistance  to  taxes 
laid  by  Parliament  had  carried  the  country  to  the  verge  of 
revolution. 

The  colonies  immediately  accepted  a  proposition  of  Virginia, 
formally  stated  by  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives, 
for  a  colonial  congress;  and  on  September  5,  1774,  at  Philadel- 
phia, delegates  came  together  from  twelve  colonies,  Georgia  alone 
not  being  represented.  Among  the  distinguished  members  of 
this  body  were  John  Adams  and  Samuel  Adams  of  Massachu- 
setts, John  Jay  of  New  York,  John  Dickinson  of  Pennsylvania, 
Peyton  Randolph,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and 
George  Washington  of  Virginia,  and  John  Rutledge  of  South 
Carolina.  This  so-called  "First  Continental  Congress"  took 
important  action  in  three  directions : 

(1)  It  drew  up  dignified  and  loyal  protests  against  the  treat- 
ment of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  colonies  in  general,  it  respect- 
fully petitioned  the  king  to  remove  their  grievances,  and  it 
sent  out  a  series  of  addresses  explaining  the  situation. 

(2)  Congress  drew  up  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  which  laid 
claim  to  the  liberties  and  immunities  of  Englishmen,  including 
a  "Right  of  Representation  ...  in  all  Cases  of  Taxation  and 
internal  Polity,  subject  only  to  the  Negative  of  their  Sovereign." 
Various  acts  of  Parliament  were  enumerated  which  were  de- 
clared to  be  "infringements  and  violations  of  the  rights  of  the 
colonists." 

(3)  Congress  voted  the  "Association"   (October  20,   1774), 
which  was  an  agreement  for  a  boycott  on  an  immense  scale : 
no  British  goods   (including  slaves)   were  to  be  imported  or 
sold.     From  north  to  south  there  was  an  era  of  terrorism ;  mob 
methods  were  called  in ;    and  the  ship  captain  who  arrived  in 
port  with  a  shipload  of  British  merchandise  was  a  fortunate  man 
if  allowed  even  to  sail  away  again  with  his  goods  on  board. 


134        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

Before  adjourning,  the  Congress  took  measures  to  call 
another  Congress  to  meet  in  May,  1775,  if  meanwhile  the 
grievances  had  not  been  redressed. 

87.  OUTBREAK  or  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR  (1775) 

Many  of  the  men  who  took  part  in  the  movement  so  far, 
including  some  members  of  the  Congress,  believed  that  this 
dignified  remonstrance  would  bring  the  home  government  to 
terms.  They  did  not  realize  the  stubbornness  of  the  king  or 
the  unwillingness  of  the  English  nation  to  accept  the  idea  of 


BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON,  APRIL  tg,  1775.     (From  Earl's  drawing, 
made  a  few  days  later.) 

colonies  that  must  not  be  governed  by  Parliament.  During 
the  winter,  while  the  colonists  were  waiting  to  hear  the  de- 
cision, a  political  storm  was  coming  on  in  Massachusetts.  The 
patriot  leaders  organized  what  they  called  a  "Provincial  Con- 
gress" in  which  the  central  authority  was  a  "Committee  of 
Safety"  which  began  to  collect  military  stores  and  to  organize 


Outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War         135 

"Minutemen"  —  militiamen  who   should   be  ready  to  march 
at  a  minute's  notice. 

The  British  garrison  in  Boston,  numbering  now  about  5000 
men,  chafed  under  this  preparation  of  a  hostile  force  and  put 
the  matter  to  a  test  by  sending  out  a  column  of  800  men 
to  seize  the  stores  at  Concord.  Warning  of  their  coming  was 
given  during  the  night  by  Paul  Revere  of  Boston  and  other 
swift  riders,  who  galloped  through  the  countryside  arousing  the 
people.  When  the  British  van  appeared  early  in  the  morning 
(April  19,  1775),  on  ,  t 

the  green  at  Lexington, 
they  found  a  line  of  pro- 
vincial militia  drawn 
up.  It  is  uncertain 
just  how  the  fight  be- 
gan ;  an  English  officer 
who  was  present  at  the 
battle  says,  "On  our 
approach  they  dis- 
persed and  soon  after, 
firing  began ;  but  which  party  fired  first  I  cannot  exactly  say,  as 
our  troops  rushed  on  shouting  and  huzzaing  previous  to  the 
firing."  When  the  smoke  cleared  away,  seven  patriots  were 
found  killed  and  nine  wounded.  The  responsibility  for  this  out- 
break of  open  war  goes  back  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  who 
had  forced  matters  to  this  issue ;  and  it  is  shared  by  men  like 
Samuel  Adams  and  Washington  who  were  ready  to  resist  the 
authority  of  the  mother  country  rather  than  yield  what  they 
felt  to  be  their  rights. 

From  Lexington  the  British  marched  seven  miles  to  Con- 
cord, where  a  body  of  militia  boldly  marched  down  to  oppose 
them,  and  beat  them  back  at  a  little  bridge  where  now  stands 
the  statue  of  the  Minuteman. 


VICINITY  OF  BOSTON. 


"  Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 


136         Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

After  destroying  some  of  the  patriots'  stores,  the  weary  Brit- 
ish troops  returned  tc  Boston,  harassed  by  the  militia,  with  a 
total  loss  of  273  British  to  93  Americans.  The  beaten  force  at 
last  reached  the  shelter  of  the  guns  on  the  British  ships. 

On  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  virtual  war  began 
throughout  most  of  the  thirteen  colonies ;  for  the  people  of  the 
middle  and  southern  colonies  showed  their  sympathy  with 
Massachusetts  by  driving  out  their  governors  and  setting  up 
provincial  congresses  and  conventions  which  assumed  the 
government. 

88.  THE  NATION  IN  ARMS  (1775-1776) 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement,  the  so-called  Second  Con- 
tinental Congress  met  in  Philadelphia  (1775)  and  sat  in  the  build- 
ing now  called  Independence  Hall.  Every  one  of  the  thirteen 
colonies  was  soon  represented  (May  15),  and  Congress  at  once 
became  the  center  of  organization  for  the  war.  Without  any 
formal  authority  from  the  colonial  governments,  but  supported 
by  their  good  will  and  assent,  Congress  made  itself  a  national 
government.  For  example,  from  May  to  July,  1775,  it  for- 
bade certain  exportations,  ordered  a  state  of  defense,  organized 
a  post  office,  voted  an  American  continental  army,  appointed 
George  Washington  commander  in  chief,  authorized  bills  of 
credit,  sent  a  last  petition  to  the  king,  and  considered  Frank- 
lin's scheme  for  a  federal  constitution. 

Without  waiting  for  any  action  by  Congress,  the  Massachu- 
setts men  besieged  Boston.  They  were  reenforced  by  militia 
from  the  neighboring  New  England  colonies,  and  (June  17, 
1775)  an  attempt  was  made  to  plant  a  battery  on  Bunker  Hill, 
in  order  to  command  the  city.  The  patriots  were  finally 
driven  out  of  their  intrenchments  by  three  desperate  assaults 
of  the  British,  who  lost  over  one  thousand  men  out  of  three 
thousand  engaged.  The  American  defeat  was  really  a  vic- 
tory, for  the  Minutemen  proved  their  bravery  against  regulars, 
and  the  British  did  not  again  attempt  to  sally  out  of  Boston. 


The  Nation  in  Arms  137 

Shortly  after  the  battle  General  Washington,  the  new  com- 
mander in  chief,  arrived  to  take  charge  of  the  siege  of  Boston. 
He  drew  up  the  troops  on  Cambridge  Common,  under  or  near 
an  elm  tree  which  is  still  standing,  and  assumed  formal  com- 
mand. 

While  the  siege  was  progressing,  two  little  armies,  under 
Montgomery  and  Benedict  Arnold,  made  their  way  into  Can- 
ada, which  they  all 
but  conquered.  The 
Canadians  held  off,  for 
they  did  not  under- 
stand this  kind  of 
friendship  and  had  no 
mind  to  exchange  Brit- 
ish rulers  for  near-by 
American  masters.  At 
the  end  of  the  winter 
(March,  1776),  Wash- 
ington succeeded  in 
fortifying  Dorchester 
Heights  and  thus  forc- 
ing the  British  army, 
still  numbering  10,000 
soldiers  and  sailors,  to  leave  Boston.  They  went  on  board 
the  British  fleet  and  sailed  for  Halifax. 

By  this  time,  it  became  clear  that  though  there  was  a  strong 
minority  in  England  who  were  opposed  to  this  war  between 
brethren,  the  king  had  a  firm  hold  upon  Parliament ;  and  the 
only  safety  for  the  colonists  was  to  fight  it  out.  Hence  during 
1776,  on  the  advice  of  Congress,  several  colonies  drew  up  writ- 
ten constitutions  of  their  own,  suitable  for  permanent  govern- 
ments. The  next  step  was  the  world-famous  vote  of  Congress, 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  dated  July  4,  1776,  declar- 
ing that  "these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  Right  ought  to  be, 
Free  and  Independent  States." 


THE  CRAIGIE  HOUSE,  CAMBRIDGE.  (Used 
as  headquarters  by  General  Washington  in 
1775-1776.) 


138        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 


89.  THE  RIVAL  FORCES 

Thus  to  throw  down  the  gage  to  Great  Britain  was  a  bold 
step,  for  the  two  parties  were  very  unequal.  Great  Britain  was 
a  rich  country  for  the  times,  fruitful  and  productive.  It  was 
the  most  important  manufacturing  nation  in  the  world,  and 
was  just  on  the  point  of  adapting  steam  power  to  machinery; 

it  had  an  immense  com- 
mercial marine,  and  pos- 
sessed the  largest  and 
most  powerful  navy  in 
the  world. 

Against  the  might  of 
Great  Britain  was  opposed 
a  poor  country,  with  no 
large  manufactures  of  iron 
or  cloth,  hardly  able  to 
cast  a  cannon.  Yet  Amer- 
ica was  a  land  of  comfort 
and  prosperity.  Lafayette 
wrote  of  it,  "Simplicity  of 
manners,  kindness,  love 
of  country  and  of  liberty, 
and  a  delightful  equality 


ENGLISH  LIGHT  DRAGOON,  ABOUT  1778. 
(Type  of  the  British  cavalryman.) 


everywhere  prevails.  .  .  . 

All  the  citizens  are  breth- 
ren. In  America  there  are  no  poor,  or  even  what  we  call 
peasantry."  Even  during  the  war  the  colonists  made  money 
from  privateering  and  from  West  India  and  European  trade,  and 
bought  the  necessary  materials  of  war  with  their  exports. 

The  British  were  overwhelmingly  superior  in  the  size  of 
their  military  and  naval  forces,  although  much  hampered  by 
the  necessity  of  transporting  men  and  materials  across  a  stormy 
sea.  In  1776  they  had  270  ships  of  war,  and  for  men  they  drew 
on  11,000,000  people  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  besides  the 


NEAR  THIS  SPOT 
SAMUEL  WHITTEMORE 

THEN  80  YEARS  OLD 
ILU.D  THREE  BRITISH  SOLDIERS 

APRIL  19  IT 75. 

HE  WAS  SHOT,  BAYONETED. 

BEATEN  AND  LEFT  FOR  DEAD 

BUT  RECOVERED  AND  LIVED 

TO  BE  98  YEARS  OF  ACE. 


The  Rival  Forces  139 

loyalists  in  the  American  colonies.  Yet  the  British  govern- 
ment committed  the  stupid  blunder  of  hiring  30,000  Hessians 
from  Germany,  who  had  no  personal  interest  in  the  struggle,  and 
were  leased  by  their  princes  like  so  many  cattle.  "Were  I  an 
American,"  said  Chatham,  "as  I  am  an  Englishman,  while  a 
foreign  troop  was  landed  in  my  country,  I  never  would  lay 
down  my  arms  —  never  —  never  —  never  ";  and  Franklin 
wrote  grimly,  "The 
German  auxiliaries  are 
certainly  coming;  it  is 
our  business  to  prevent 
their  returning." 

Out  of  the  3,000,000 
people  in  the  colonies, 
the  loyalists  and  ne- 
groes numbered  at  least 
1,200,000.  There  were 
from  300,000  to  400,000 
able-bodied  patriots,  of 
whom  perhaps  250,000 
served  in  the  army  at 
one  time  or  another; 
but  they  never  num- 
bered  more  than  40,000 
men  under  arms  at  one 
time,  and  sometimes  the  total  force  available  for  striking  a  blow 
was  not  above  5000.  On  the  patriot  side  besides  soldiers  of 
English  descent,  there  were  many  Germans,  Irish,  and  Scotch, 
some  Dutch,  Jews,  French,  and  Welsh,  and  several  thousand 
negroes,  especially  from  Rhode  Island.  Both  sides  made  the 
moral  and  military  mistake  of  enlisting  Indian  allies.  The 
Americans  were  first  to  seek  this  dubious  aid;  the  British 
used  it  most  effectively. 

The  main  difficulty  with  the  army  was  that  the  states  in- 
sisted on  furnishing  militia  on  short  terms  of  service,  instead 


A  TOUGH  OLD  PATRIOT.     (Monument  in 
Arlington,  then  Menotomy,  near  Boston.) 


Campaigns  of  1776-1777  141 

of  allowing  Congress  to  form  a  sufficient  regular  force  with 
national  officers,  enlisted  for  the  war.  Washington  said  of 
the  militia,  "The  system  appears  to  have  been  pernicious 
beyond  description.  ...  It  may  be  easily  shown,  that  all  the 
misfortunes  we  have  met  with  in  the  military  line  are  to  be 
attributed  to  this  cause." 

Many  soldiers  of  fortune  drifted  over  from  Europe  to  seek 
employment,  besides  Lafayette,'  a  French  nobleman,  who 
brought  his  own  enthusiasm  and  the  silent  support  of  the 
French  government.  The  German  Baron  von  Steuben,  an 
excellent  soldier,  skillfully  drilled  the  troops  and  introduced 
improved  tactics.  The  Poles  Kosciusko  and  Pulaski  and  the 
French  general  De  Kalb  were  gallant  soldiers. 

90.   CAMPAIGNS  OF  1776-1777 

The  Revolution  was  a  long  and 
hard-fought  war,  with  many  inci- 
dents, skirmishes,  and  sea  fights ; 
but  the  pitched  battles  were  few  and 
the  details  of  the  engagements  and 
sieges  are  not  essential.  We  are  in- 
terested chiefly  in  the  critical  strug- 
gles and  the  final  military  results. 

The  first  success  of  the  American 
patriots  at  Boston  was  followed  by 
a  brilliant  victory  near  Charleston.  ». 
A  British  attack  on  that  city  was 
beaten  off  by  skillful  fighting,  in 
which  Sergeant  Jasper  distinguished 
himself  for  bravery. 

Then  in  August,  1776,  came  a 
severe  defeat.  Sir  William  Howe 
landed  with  a  British  army  of  20,000 

men   on  Long  Island.     Washington          jASp£R  MoNUMENT> 
had  never  before  commanded  an  army          CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 


r< 


142         Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  field  or  defended  a  country,  and  his  force  of  18,000 
men  was  badly  defeated.  The  British  maneuvered  him  out 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  followed  him  northward  and  then 
sduthwestward  across  New  Jersey  till  he  crossed  the  Delaware 
River,  his  army  sometimes  falling  below  3000  men.  Almost 
in  despair  Washington  wrote,  "  If  every 
nerve  is  not  strained  to  recruit  the  new 
army  with  all  possible  expedition,  I 
think  the  game  is  pretty  nearly  up." 
But  for  the  heroic  efforts  of  Robert 
Morris,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Phila- 
delphia, who  raised  money  on  his 
personal  credit  to  keep  the  army 
together,  the  Revolution  might  have 
failed  then  and  there.  To  prevent 
the  British  following  him  to  Phila- 
delphia, Washington  boldly  took  the 
offensive,  crossed  the  Delaware,  and 
successfully  attacked  the  British  at 
Trenton  and  Princeton. 

In  the  spring  of  1777,  the  British 
entered  on  a  well-planned  scheme  to 
cut  the  new  United  States  in  two, 
by  pushing  one  army  up  the  Hudson 
and  sending  another  southward  from 
Canada  to  meet  it.  General  Howe, 
who  lay  in  New  York,  had  the  bad  judgment  to  take  away 
his  part  of  the  forces  for  a  separate  attack  on  Philadelphia. 
He  carried  his  troops  around  by  sea  to  the  head  of  Chesa- 
peake Bay  and  defeated  Washington  in  a  pitched  battle 
at  the  river  Brandy  wine  (September,  1777).  Two  weeks 
later  Howe  entered  Philadelphia  and  remained  there  until 
the  following  summer. 

Meanwhile  General  Burgoyne  started  southward  from  Mont- 
real with  an    army  of  about  8000   men,  including  Hessians. 


BATTLE  MONUMENT  AT 
ORISKANY. 


Campaigns  of  1776-1777  143 

He  put  forth  a  bombastic  proclamation  in  which  he  said,  "I 
have  but  to  give  stretch  to  the  Indian  forces  under  my  direc- 
tion .  .  .  and  the  messengers  of  justice  and  wrath  await  them 
in  the  field;  and  devastation,  famine,  and  every  concomitant 
horror."  Instead  he  found  a  hornets'  nest.  American  patriots 
poured  in  from  near-by  New  England  until  Burgoyne  was  far  out- 
numbered; other  patriots  checked  a  British  expedition  into 
the  Mohawk  valley  at  the  battle  of  Oriskany,  where  the  patriot 
General  Herkimer  did  good  service ;  most  of  Burgoyne's  Indians 
deserted  him ;  and  the  expected  British  aid  up  the  Hudson  failed 
to  materialize.  Burgoyne  was  at  last  confronted  by  Arnold 
and  others,  active  subordinates  of  the  apathetic  Gates,  who 


SCHUYLER  MANSION,  ALBANY.     (Where  General  Burgoyne  was 
entertained  after  his  surrender  at  Saratoga.) 


was  put  in  command  against  Washington's  desire.  After  two 
hard  fights  Burgoyne  was  obliged  to  surrender  his  whole  re- 
maining army  at  Saratoga,  October  17,  1777.  The  prisoners 
were  350x3  British  and  Hessian  troops,  with  2300  volunteers 
and  camp  followers.  The  defeat  was  the  turning  point  of  the 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  10 


144        Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

war,  for  the  overthrow  of  the  boastful  proclamation-maker 
gave  the  patriot  cause  new  life.  In  the  words  of  a  popular 
squib, 

"  Burgoyne,  alas  !  unknowing  future  fates, 
Could  force  his  way  through  woods,  but  not  through  Gates." 

91.   DARK  TIME  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  (1777-1778) 

Notwithstanding  this  brilliant  victory,  the  Revolution 
almost  collapsed  during  the  winter  of  1777-1778.  Newport, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia  were  all  held  by  the  British,  and 
reinforcements  and  supplies  came  to  them  steadily  from  over 
the  sea,  while  Washington's  army  at  Valley  Forge  was  living 
miserably  in  a  camp  village  of  log  huts.  Fuel  was  plentiful, 
but  food  and  clothing  were  scanty,  not  because  there  was  any 
scarcity  in  the  country,  but  because  so  many  of  the  neighboring 
people  were  disaffected,  and  the  roads  were  so  bad  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  bring  supplies  which  were  stored  only  a 
few  miles  away.  At  one  time,  out  of  a  force  of  at  most  11,000 
men,  2898  were  reported  unable  to  go  on  duty  for  want  of 
clothing.  Yet  the  spirit  of  the  troops  was  excellent;  one  of 
the  officers  wrote:  "See  the  poor  Soldier  ...  if  barefoot  he 
labours  thro'  the  Mud  &  Cold  with  a  Song  in  his  Mouth  ex- 
tolling War  &  Washington  —  if  his  food  be  bad  —  he  eats 
it  notwithstanding  with  seeming  content." 

One  cause  of  the  suffering  of  the  soldiers  was  the  bad  man- 
agement of  the  commissary  officers ;  back  of  that  was  the  weak- 
ness of  Congress,  of  which  Alexander  Hamilton  said,  "Their 
conduct,  with  respect  to  the  army  especially,  is  feeble,  inde- 
cisive, and  improvident."  It  was  a  time  of  great  losses;  nine 
hundred  American  merchant  vessels  had  already  been  taken; 
thousands  of  men  had  lost  their  lives  or  were  prisoners  in  bar- 
barous prison  ships,  or  had  returned  home  kwounded  or  diseased. 
The  states  hung  back,  each  hoping  that  other  states  would 
furnish  the  necessary  men,  and  therefore  Congress  lost  spirit 
and  influence. 


George  Washington,  the  Indispensable       145 

92.   GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  THE  INDISPENSABLE 

The  one  beacon  light  which  shone  steadily  was  General 
George  Washington.  Every  other  Revolutionary  hero  and 
patriot  could  have  been  replaced ;  Washington  alone  was  the 
indispensable  man.  He  was -a  Virginian,  and  his  appoint- 
ment gave  confidence  to  the  southern  states ;  he  was  a  soldier 
who  outranked  in  service  and  experience  nearly  all  the  other 
officers  in  the  army ;  he  was  careful  of  his  men ;  he  was  a  man 
of  extraordinary  industry  and  mastery  of  details,  keeping  up 
correspondence  all  over  the  country.  As  a  general  Wash- 
ington showed  a  splendid  pertinacity :  he  learned  by  his  own 
defeats ;  if  beaten  in  one  place,  he  would  reappear  in  another. 
He  was  extraordinarily  long-suffering  and  patient,  and  he  had 
a  magnificent  temper;  that  is,  though  naturally  hot  and  im- 
petuous, he  kept  himself  under  rigid  control,  except  when  a 
crisis  came,  and  on  such  occasions,  as  a  contemporary  records, 
"Washington  swore  like  an  angel  from  heaven." 

Washington  bore  personal  slights  with  wonderful  dignity. 
He  wrote  to  Congress  of  "the  wounds  which  my  feelings  as 
an  officer  have  constantly  received  from  a  thousand  things 
that  have  happened  contrary  to  my  expectation  and  wishes." 
Especially  did  he  shine  out  in  the  so-called  Conway  Cabal  of 
1778,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  put  Gates,  "the  hero  of 
Saratoga,"  over  his  head.  The  cabal  fell  to  pieces  when  a 
letter  from  Conway  was  made  public,  in  which  he  said, 
"Heaven  has  been  determined  to  save  your  country,  or  a  weak 
General  and  bad  counselors  would  have  ruined  it."  Gates 
shortly  after  withdrew  from  command  in  the  field. 

After  all,  the  greatest  of  Washington's  qualities  was  a  rug- 
ged manliness  which  gave  him  the  respect  and  confidence 
even  of  his  enemies.  Though  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  military 
force,  nobody  ever  for  a  moment  believed  that  he  would  use  it 
to  secure  power  for  himself.  Wisdom,  patience,  and  personal 
influence  over  men  were  wonderfully  united  in  Washington  — 


146       Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

the  greatest  man  in  the  Revolution,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Lincoln,  the  greatest  of  all  Americans. 

93.  ALLIANCE  WITH  FRANCE  (1778-1780) 

The  capture  of  Burgoyne  saved  the  American  Republic, 
because  it  made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  government 
of  France,  which  for  three  years  had  remained  neutral  in  the 
struggle,  although  doing  much  harm  to  its  enemy  Great  Britain 
by  secret  aid  in  arms  and  money  to  the  revolted  colonies.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  as  United  States  minister  to  France,  was  able  to 
secure  two  treaties  (February  6,  1778)  by  which  the  French 
recognized  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  and  promised 
to  make  common  cause  in  the  war  until  Great  Britain  should 
yield. 

England  vainly  tried  to  head  off  this  alliance  and  sent 
commissioners  who  offered  to  give  up  the  disputed  taxation  if 
the  colonies  would  return  to  their  allegiance.  The  French  had 
a  good  fleet  and  sent  over  troops  and  ships  which  obliged  the 
British  to  withdraw  from  Philadelphia  and  concentrate  in 
New  York  (June,  1778).  From  that  time,  there  was  no  more 
heavy  fighting  in  the  north. 

France  also  gave  aid  and  comfort  to  the  American  navy. 
First  the  states  and  then  the  federal  government  organized 
naval  forces,  with  one  of  which  the  island  of  New  Provi- 
dence in  the  West  Indies  was  raided.  In  1777  John  Paul 
Jones,  a  former  British  merchant  captain,  was  appointed 
captain  of  the  ship  Ranger  and  with  it  landed  at  two  places 
on  the  British  coast  and  captured  the  British  ship-of-war 
Drake.  Then  with  the  Bon  Homme  Richard,  transformed  from  a 
French  merchant  ship,  Jones  attacked  and  captured  the  Scrapis, 
a  forty-four-gun  British  ship.  When  the  British  captain  called 
across  demanding  a  surrender,  Jones  answered,  "  I  have  not 
yet  begun  to  fight."  This  daring  officer  never  had  another 
chance  in  a  good  ship,  and  at  the  end  of  the  war  hardly  an 
armed  ship  was  afloat  that  carried  the  stars  and  stripes. 


American  Victory  147 

94.   AMERICAN  VICTORY  (1780-1781) 

Failing  to  break  the  center, 'the  British  transferred  their  ac- 
tive hostilities  to  the  south,  took  Savannah  (1778)  and  then 
Charleston  (1780).  Then  the  British  under  Lord  Cornwallis 
in  1780  pushed  into  the  interior  of  the  Carolinas.  Cornwallis 
tried  to  establish  a  Royalist  government,  and  the  country  was 
ravaged  by  irregular  "partisan"  troops,  who  were  guilty  of 
excesses  on  both  sides.  The  patriots  Marion  and  Sumter  with 
militia  and  guerrillas  somehow  kept  the  field.  General  Gates 
was  badly  defeated  by  the  British  at  Camden  (August,  1780). 
A  few  weeks  later  a  force  of  1 200  Royalist  troops  was  attacked 
by  the  militia  and  destroyed  or  taken  at  Kings  Mountain 
(October).  This  important  battle  was  won  by  western  settlers 
under  John  Sevier  from  across  the  mountains. 

In  1780  the  patriot  cause  almost  perished  through  the  treason 
of  Benedict  Arnold,  a  brave  veteran  of  many  battles  who  was 
deep  in  debt  and  was  willing  to  sell  the  important  post  of  West 
Point  for  $30,00x3  and  a  major  general's  commission.  For- 
tunately the  British  agent,  Major  John  Andre,  was  taken  at 
the  critical  moment  (September  23,  1780);  West  Point  was 
saved,  and  with  it  the  line  of  communication  with  New  Eng- 
land. •  Since  Andre  was  traveling  through  the  American  lines 
in  disguise,  he  was  a  spy,  and  was  justly  executed  as  a  spy, 
though  his  captors  bore  tribute  to  his  brave  and  manly  char- 
acter. Arnold  received  the  promised  reward  from  the  British, 
and  lived  a  miserable  life,  the  betrayer  of  his  own  country. 

During  1781  General  Nathanael  Greene  was  in  command 
of  the  American  forces  in  the  South.  The  British  were  defeated 
at  Cowpens  and  suffered  great  losses  at  Guilford.  Cornwallis 
then  withdrew,  and  invaded  Virginia  with  the  aid  of  Benedict 
Arnold.  Washington  aided  the  patriots  in  the  South  by  hold- 
ing the  British  forces  in  New  York.  He  sent  Lafayette  to  defend 
Virginia,  and  the  British  were  soon  cooped  up  in  Yorktown 
awaiting  reenforcement.  .At  this  critical  juncture,  a  French 


I4&       Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

fleet  under  De  Grasse  blockaded  the  Chesapeake  and  repulsed  a 
British  fleet  bearing  troops,  while  Washington  at  the  right 
moment  made  a  brilliant  dash  southward  from  the  Hudson, 

together  with  a 
French  force  under 
Rochambeau,  and 
closed  the  net  on 
the  land  side. 
After  a  spirited 
siege  at  York  town, 
Cornwallis  surren- 
dered his  whole 
army  of  7000  men 
(October  19, 1 781). 

H,RT«PLACE  OF  LAFAYETTE.     (Purchased  by         ThUS    *****  SeVCn 
Americans  for  a  Memorial  Museum.)  annual  campaigns 

the    British    held 

only  the  cities  of  New  York,  Charleston,  and  Savannah. 
The  war  was  practically  over. 

95.   REVIEW 

During  the  twelve  years  from  1763  to  1775,  the  colonies  ceased 
to  be  contented  with  their  relation  to  Great  Britain,  and  rose 
to  the  point  of  revolt.  The  main  causes  of  this  change  of  feeling 
were:  (i)  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  Navigation  Acts,  includ- 
ing the  use  of  writs  of  assistance ;  (2)  taxation  for  revenue 
by  Parliament,  including  the  Stamp  Act  of  1765,  the  Townshend 
duties  of  1767,  and  the  tea  duties  in  1773  ;  (3)  the  belief  that 
the  colonists  had  certain  rights  under  what  they  called  "The 
Constitution,"  noted  arguments  for  which  were  framed  by  James 
Otis  and  Patrick  Henry ;  (4)  the  consciousness  of  common  in- 
terest and  ability  to  take  care  of  themselves,  shown  in  the  Stamp 
Act  Congress  of  1765 ;  (5)  irritation  over  the  presence  of  troops 
in  Boston,  shown  by  the  so-called  Boston  Massacre  of  1770,  and 
the  Boston  Tea  Party  of  1773,  and  by  resistance  in  April,  1775. 


References  149 

A  few  Americans,  especially  Samuel  Adams,  expected  trouble 
and  began  to  organize  through  Committees  of  Correspondence. 
In  1774,  the  First  Continental  Congress  was  called,  which 
represented  twelve  colonies  in  drawing  up  petitions,  issuing  a 
Declaration  of  Rights,  and  voting  the  Association,  which  was 
a  boycott  on  British  goods. 

The  fight  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  April  19,  1775,  was  the 
beginning  of  a  civil  war.  After  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  (June), 
the  British  were  shut  up  in  Boston,  and  in  1776  were  obliged  to 
evacuate  the  place.  They  then  made  preparations  to  subdue 
the  colonists,  and  enlisted  mercenary  Hessians.  The  patriots 
were  aided  by  their  superior  numbers,  and  by  French,  German, 
and  Polish  soldiers  who  came  over  to  fight  with  and  for  them. 
Washington  was  all  but  driven  from  the  field  in  1 776,  but  rallied  ; 
and  Burgoyne's  British  army  was  captured  at  Saratoga  in  1777. 
Washington  was  the  soul  of  the  Revolution.  The  French  in 
1778  made  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  sent  over  ships  and  soldiers 
which  aided  the  Americans  to  capture  the  second  British  army 
at  York  town  (1781).  That  practically  ended  the  war. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  135,  140.  —  Avery,  U.S.,  V, 
VI. — Becker,  Beginnings,  180,  272.  —  Howard,  Preliminaries  of  the 
Rev.  —  Sample,  Geogr.  Conditions,  46-74.  — Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  194, 
195.  —  Van  Tyne,  Am.  Rev.  —  Winsor,  America,  VI. 

Secondary.  Cambridge  Mod.  Hist.,  VII.  chs.  v-vii.  —  Channing, 
U.S.,  III.  chs.  i-vi,  viii-xi.  —  Fish,  Am.  Dipt.,  chs.  iii,  iv.  —  Fiske,  Am. 
Rev.  —  Greene,  Rev.  War.  —  Hapgood,  Paul  Jones.  —  Hosmer,  Samuel 
Adams,  chs.  ii-xix.  —  Howard,  Preliminaries  of  the  Rev.  —  Lodge, 
Washington,  I.  chs.  v-x ;  Story  of  the  Rev.  —  Maclay,  U.S.  Navy,  I. 
34-151.  —  McCrady,  So.  Carolina,  II.  chs.  xxvii-xli,  III,  IV.  —  Morse, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  chs.  vi,  vii,  ix-xi.  —  Paullin,  Navy  of  the  A  m.  Rev.  — 
Sloane,  French  War  and  Rev.,  chs.  x-xvi,  xx-xxviii.  —  Smith,  Wars  be- 
tween Engl.  and  Am.,  chs.  i-v.  —  Van  Tyne,  Am.  Rev.,  chs.  ii,  iii,  vii- 
xvii  passim. — Wilson,  Am.  People,  II.  chs.  iii,  iv. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  143-175.  —  Harding, 
Select  Orations,  nos.  1-4.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  II.  §§  130-133,  138- 
158,  170-183,  191-204,  211-214;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  I.  247-380,  II. 


150       Causes  and  Course  of  the  Revolution 

52-185  passim.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,ch.  xii. —Johnston,  Am.  Orations, 
I.  11-23.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Charters,  nos.  55-80.  —  Old  South 
Leaflets,  nos.  47,  68,  86,  156,  173,  179,  199,  200,  202. 

Illustrative.  Barr,  Bow  of  Orange  Ribbon  (N.Y.).  —  Brady,  Blue 
Ocean's  Daughter  (privateers).  —  Churchill,  Richard  Carvel  (Paul  Jones). 

—  Cooke,  Fairfax;  Henry  St.  John;  Stories  of  the  Old  Dominion,  140- 
218;     Virginia  Comedians. — Cooper,   Lionel   Lincoln    (Boston);     The 
Pilot;     The  Spy.  —  Frederic,  In  the  Valley  (Mohawk).  —  Hawthorne, 
Edward    Randolph's    Portrait;   Grandfather's    Chair,    pt.   iii ;     Howe's 
Masquerade;    Major   M olineux  (mob) ;    Septimius  Felton  (Concord). — 
Holmes,    Grandmother's    Story    of    Bunker    Hill.  — •  Longfellow,    Paul 
Revere 's    Ride.  —  Lowell,    Concord   Ode;    Ode  for  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1876.  —  Simms,    Eutaw;    Forayers;    Rather ine  Walton;    Mellichampe; 
Partisan  (all  on  So.  Carolina).  —  Thompson,  Green  Mountain  Boys. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  V,  VI.  —  Chase,  Beginnings  of  the  Am. 
Rev.  —  Fiske,  Am.  Rev.  (illus.  ed.).  — Hammond,  Quaint  and  Historic 
Forts.  —  Lossing,  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution.  — -  Mentor,  serial  no.  53. 

—  Wilson,  Am.  People,  II.  —  Winsor,  America,  VI;  Boston,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Objections  to  the  Stamp  Act.  [§  82]  —  (2)  Patrick  Henry  as  a 
young  lawyer.  [§  83]  —  (3)  The  Sons  of  Liberty.  [§  84]  —  (4)  Anti- 
Stamp  Act  mobs.  [§  84]  —  (5)  Incidents  of  Stamp  Act  Congress.  [§  84] 

—  (6)   Contemporary  accounts  of    the   Boston    Tea   Party.   [§   85]  — 
(7)  Incidents  in  the  First  Continental  Congress.  [§  86]  —  (8)   Account 
of  the  Minutemen.  [§87]  —  (9)  Contemporary  accounts  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington   and   Concord.  [§  87]  —  (10)    Incidents  in  the  Second  Con- 
tinental Congress.  [§  88]  —  (n)   General  Washington's  siege  of  Boston. 
[§  88]  —  (12)   Colonial  soldiers  previous  to  the  Revolution.   [§  89]  — • 
(13)  Use  of  Hessians,  or  of  Indians,  or  of  loyalists,  in  the  Revolution. 
[§  89]  —  (14)    The  American    soldier  at  Valley   Forge.   [§  91]  —  (15) 
Washington's  camp  life.  [§  92] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(16)  Interest  in  America  of  one  of  the  following  English  statesmen  : 
Pitt;  Fox;  Burke.  [§  82]  —  (17)  Was  "No  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation "  a  right  of  the  colonists?  [§  84]  —  (18)  Objections  to  sending 
British  troops  to  Boston  [§  85],  or  to  the  "  Intolerable  Acts."  [§  86]  — 
(19)  Results  of  the  Committees  of  Correspondence  [§  85],  or  of  the 
Association  of  1774.  [§86]  —  (20)  Troubles  with  the  militia.  [§  89] — • 
(21)  Services  to  the  Revolution  of  Lafayette,  or  Von  Steuben,  or  De 
Kalb.  [§  89]  —  (22)  How  did  Arnold's  treason  fail?  [§  94] 


CHAPTER  IX 

BUILDING   OF  A  NEW  NATION   (1775-1781) 
96.  PATRIOTS  AND  LOYALISTS 

THE  rapid  survey  of  the  military  events  of  the  Revolution, 
as  given  in  the  last  chapter,  might  be  much  enlarged  with 
sketches  of  the  military  leaders  and  incidents  of  heroic  courage. 
But  it  is  more  important  for  us  to  know,  instead,  some  details 
of  the  interior  civil  life  of  the  country,  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  a  national  government  was  built  up. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  struggle,  the  colonists  were  living 
mostly  in  a  narrow  belt  of  territory,  stretching  along  the  tide- 
water front.  There  were  some  interior  settlements  in  southern 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  the  lower  Connecticut  valley, 
the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  western  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
valleys  of  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  rivers.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  some  far  western  settlers  were  afraid  because 
of  Indian  hostilities,  and  came  back  across  the  mountains ;  but 
they  soon  returned  and  built  up  the  settlements  in  what  are 
now  central  Kentucky  and  east  Tennessee. 

The  American  cause  in  all  quarters  of  the  country  was  se- 
riously weakened  because  the  colonists  were  themselves  divided. 
John  Adams  later  estimated  that  fully  a  third  of  the  people 
were  opposed  to  the  war  at  the  beginning  and  were  still  more 
strongly  against  independence.  Hence  the  years  of  the  war 
were  full  of  commotion,  tumult,  and  violence  against  the  loyal- 
ists. Those  Americans  who  ventured  to  maintain  that  the 
British  government  was  not  tyrannical,  were  intimidated, 


152  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

arrested,  imprisoned,  tarred  and  feathered,  and  in  some  cases 
executed.  As  the  struggle  grew  fiercer,  the  colonists  passed 
laws  banishing  the  loyalists  or  confiscating  their  property. 
In  many  districts  the  struggle  was  a  civil  war  in  which  hun- 
dreds of  the  Tories,  as.  the  loyalists  were  called,  were  kept  down 
by  force.  The  Tories  in  the  New  England  and  middle  com- 
monwealths included  most  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  the  former 
colonial  officials  and  their  friends,  old  officers  of  the  British 
army,  many  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  graduates  of  colleges. 
In  some  states  nearly  half  the  people  were  loyalists.  Thou- 
sands of  them  entered  the  British  army  and  fought  against  their 
brethren;  and  thousands  of. families  removed  to  Nova  Scotia, 
Quebec,  and  other  British  colonies. 

97.   PATRIOT  LEADERS 

It  was  an  immense  aid  to  the  patriots  that  most  of  the 
men  who  were  leaders  in  the  colonies  adhered  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. Able  loyalists  like  Joseph  Galloway  of  Pennsylvania  were 
silenced  or  exiled,  and  stanch  patriots  like  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, John  Adams,  George  Clinton,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  George 
Washington  came  to  the  front.  At  first  these  men  hoped  and 
worked  for  a  settlement  with  the  home  country,  which  would 
have  left  the  colonies  about  the  same  kind  of  government  that 
is  now  enjoyed  by  Canada  and  Australia.  Such  concessions 
could  not  be  secured  in  the  face  of  the  obstinacy  of  King  George 
III  and  the  lack  of  insight  of  the  British  nation.  In  vain 
did  great  Englishmen  such  as  Lord  Chatham  (William  Pitt) 
and  Edmund  Burke  protest  against  this  war  between  brethren. 
When  fighting  had  fairly  begun  and  the  patriots  won  their 
first  great  triumph  in  the  capture  of  Boston,  the  demand  for 
independence  grew  rapidly. 

One  of  the  great  champions  of  independence  was  Patrick 
Henry  of  Virginia,  a  passionate,  impulsive,  fiery  man,  with 
a  reputation  for  surpassing  oratory.  It  is  a  well-founded 
tradition  that  in  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  1765  he  exclaimed, 


Declaration  of  Independence  153 

"Caesar  had  his  Brutus;  Charles  I  his  Cromwell;  and  George 
III —  '  "Treason,"  shouted  the  Speaker.  "Treason,  treason," 
rose  from  all  sides  of  the  room,  —  "and  George  III  may  profit 
by  their  example.  If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 
As  a  member  of  the  First  Continental  Congress,  Patrick  Henry 
foresaw  independence.  "Government  is  dissolved,"  said  he. 
"Fleets  and  armies  and  the  present  state  of  things  show  that 
government  is  dissolved.  ...  I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an 
American";  and  in  the  Virginia  convention  of  1775  he  made 
a  magnificent  speech  ending  with  the  oft-quoted  passage,  "I 
know  not  what  course  others  may  take;  but  as  for  me,  give 
me  liberty  or  give  me  death." 

In  the  North  the  greatest  exponent  of  independence  was  the 
astute  political  leader  Samuel  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  the 
first  man  to  discover  how  much  may  be  done  in  a  democracy 
by  organizing  the  voters  and  by  preparing  work  for  town  meet- 
ings and  assemblies  through  caucuses  and  private  meetings. 
He  induced  Boston  to  take  strong  ground  in  the  quarrel  with 
England.  He  invented  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  in 
1772  (§  85),  and  was  himself  the  most  active  member.  He 
pulled  the  wires  which  led  to  the  Boston  Tea  Party ;  and  in 
Congress  he  labored  unceasingly  for  independence.  Though 
he  could  destroy,  he  did  not  know  how  to  build  up  a  state, 
and  after  1776  he  lived  for  the  most  part  in  private,  except 
for  a  brief  period  as  governor  of  Massachusetts. 

98.   DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  (1775-1776) 

The  belief  that  the  British  North  American  colonies  would 
sometime  form  a  separate  nation  can  be  traced  back  to  travelers 
and  observers  during  the  ten  years  previous  to  the  Revolution. 
During  1775  several  local  conventions  suggested  that  the  Brit- 
ish rule  was  at  an  end.  The  most  famous  among  them  is  that 
of  Mecklenburg  County,  North  Carolina  (May,  1775).  Con- 
gress still  hoped  for  a  settlement  till  news  came  (November, 
1775)  that  the  king  would  not  even  receive  their  petition. 


154 


Building  of  a  New  Nation 


In  January,  1776,  appeared  the  first  widely  read  and  effec- 
tive argument  for  independence  —  Thomas  Paine's  ringing 
pamphlet,  Common  Sense,  an  arsenal  of  arguments  against 
England  and  against  reconciliation.  "The  birthday  of  a  new 
world  is  at  hand,"  exclaimed  Paine;  "and  a  race  of  men  .  .  . 
are  to  receive  their  portion  of  freedom." 
The  conviction  that  the  time  was  ap- 
proaching for  a  formal  declaration  of 
independence  took  root  in  Congress. 
May  15,  on  motion  of  John  Adams, 
Congress  voted  that  all  British  authority 
in  the  colonies  ought  to  be  legally 
suppressed.  June 
7,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  under  in- 
structions from  his 
colony  of  Virginia, 
introduced  a  res- 
olution for  inde- 
pendence, looking 
to  a  formal  union ; 
and  two  commit- 
tees were  appoint- 
ed (June  10-12), 
one  to  draft  a 
declaration  of  in- 
dependence, the 


INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA.     (Where 
the  Second  Continental  Congress  met.) 


other  to  prepare  articles  for  a  union.  The  question  of  inde- 
pendence was  postponed,  to  enable  delegates  to  receive 
instructions  from  home,  for,  as  Franklin  dryly  remarked,  "We 
must  all  hang  together  or  we  shall  all  hang  separately." 

The  Committee  on  Independence  intrusted  to  Thomas 
Jefferson,  a  young  delegate  from  Virginia,  the  delicate  task  of 
drawing  up  a  public  statement  of  the  reasons  for  war  and 
separation.  Fortunately  he  had  a  ready  pen,  and  his  mind  was 


Meaning  of  Independence  155 

full  of  principles  of  free  government,  which  were  not  peculiar 
to  the  colonies,  but  were  the  common  property  of  the  English 
race,  and  had  been  partly  put  in  form  by  the  English  phi- 
losophers Locke  and  Hobbes. 

The  declaration  he  prepared  was  reported  on  June  28,  and 
was  for  some  days  debated  and  then  slightly  amended.  Mean- 
while Lee's  postponed  resolution  of  independence  was  formally 
adopted,  July  2.  John  Adams  has  left  us  his  impressions  of 
this  momentous  act.  "The  second  day  of  July,  1776,  will  be 
the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of  America.  .  .  . 
It  ought  to  be  commemorated,  as  a  day  of  deliverance,  by 
solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God  Almighty.  It  ought  to  be 
solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with  shows,  games,  sports, 
guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  this 
continent  to  the  other,  from  this  time  forward  forever  more." 
On  July  4,  1776,  Jefferson's  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
adopted  as  amended.  On  August  2,  an  engrossed  copy  (still 
preserved  in  Washington)  was  laid  before  Congress ;  and  the 
members  then  in  Congress  affixed  their  names  to  this  docu- 
ment, although  in  the  eye  of  English  law  every  signer  was 
a  traitor  and  subject  to  a  traitor's  doom. 

99.  MEANING  OF  INDEPENDENCE  (1776) 

The  document  thus  formally  adopted  by  Congress  in  behalf 
of  the  communities  which  from  that  time  on  were  called  "  states," 
is  a  cornerstone  of  American  liberty  and  American  govern- 
ment, yet  it  is  simple  in  its  language  and  its  principles.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  (see  Appendix  D)  is  made  up  of 
three  significant  parts : 

(i)  An  announcement  of  certain  political  rights,  by  nature 
applying  to  the  colonists  and  rightfully  applying  to  all  man- 
kind. These  rights,  which  had  been  stated  in  much  greater  de- 
tail earlier  by  the  First  Continental  Congress  and  by  the  states, 
are  here  repeated  in  the  form  of  certain  "self-evident  truths," 
such  as  "  that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed 


156  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ;  that  among 
these  are  Life,  Liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  Happiness.  That 
to  secure  these  rights,  Governments  are  instituted  among  Men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

(2)  A    list    of    twenty-seven    grievances    which    justify    the 
Revolution  ;   most  of  the  acts  thus  complained  of  had  for  many 
years  been  accepted  and  practiced  as  legal  by  the  British 
government. 

(3)  The  ringing,  positive,  and  fearless  statement  that  "These 
United  Colonies  are,  and  of  Right  ought  to  be,  Free  and  Inde- 
pendent States." 

The  fortunes  of  war  during  the  next  few  years  were  to  de- 
cide whether  this  last  statement  was  true.  Meanwhile  the 
American  people  had  to  settle  the  further  question  whether  the 
individual  colonies  were  "Free  and  Independent  States"; 
or  whether  it  was  the  Union  of  thirteen  states  taken  together 
that  was  "Free  and  Independent."  "The  Union  is  older 
than  any  of  the  States,"  said  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1861,  "and 
in  fact  it  created  them  as  States."  He  meant  to  bring  out  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  national  government  in  action  before  any 
state  governments  came  into  being. 

100.   NEW  STATES  (1775-1780) 

The  process  of  change  from  colonies  into  states  was  difficult 
and  irregular.  As  the  Revolution  spread  from -Massachusetts  to 
other  colonies,  the  royal  and  proprietary  governors  were  forced 
to  flee.  The  patriots  formed  revolutionary  assemblies,  called 
"Congresses"  or  "Conventions,"  which  for  the  time  being 
carried  on  the  government  of  the  colonies,  shutting  out  the 
Tories  from  any  part  in  their  control.  People  felt  that  these 
were  'only  temporary  governments,  and  asked  Congress  for 
advice.  Acting  under  such  advice,  New  Hampshire  in  1776 
adopted  a  document  which  was  practically  a  little  state  consti- 
tution. Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  made 
slight  changes  in  their  colonial  charters  and  treated  them  as 


New  States  157 

constitutions.  The  other  nine  colonies  (and  also  Vermont) 
all  adopted  written  constitutions  during  1776  and  1777;  and 
Massachusetts  at  last  (1780)  gave  up  the  old  charter  form  and 
provided  herself  with  a  document  which  was  the  first  state 
constitution  ever  adopted  by  popular  vote. 

These  constitutions  are  the  foundation  of  our  present  system 
of  state  constitutions;  and,  with  many  variations  in  detail, 
they  are  surprisingly  alike  in  their  general  form  and  spirit. 


FIRST  CAPITOL  OF  NEW  YORK  STATE,  AT  KINGSTON. 

(i)  Each  contained  a  bill  of  rights  ;  that  is,  a  statement 
of  the  liberties  of  the  individual.  (2)  Each  provided  for  a  rep- 
resentative republican  government  including  three  depart- 
ments —  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial.  In  all  the  states 
except  two  the  legislature  was  made  up  of  two  houses;  in  all, 
the  legislature  was  the  most  powerful  part  of  the  system  ;  each 
of  the  states  except  Pennsylvania  had  a  single  governor,  chosen 
by  popular  vote  or  by  the  legislature.  (3)  None  of  the  consti- 
tutions were  strongly  democratic  according  to  our  ideas,  for 
the  suffrage  was  limited  to  property  owners  or  taxpayers ;  and 
most  of  the  states  had  also  religious  and  property  qualifications 


158  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

for  office  holders.  (4)  In  the  fear  of  military  and  centralized 
government,  all  the  constitutions  fixed  short  terms  for  all  elec- 
tive officers.  (5)  Several  of  them  provided  a  method  of  easy 
amendment,  and  within  ten  years  some  of  the  first  constitutions 
were  entirely  recast.  (6)  All  of  these  constitutions  were  made 
by  communities  who  were  also  taking  part  in  the  general  govern- 
ment through  Congress;  and  they  expected  to  remain  indefi- 
nitely in  an  organized  federal  union. 

101.   ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION  (1775-1781) 

The  reasons  for  union  were  many,  the  two  strongest  being 
that  the  colonies  were  already  in  a  union  as  parts  of  the  British 
Empire  when  the  Revolution  began,  and  that  unless  they  made 
their  union  closer  they  could  never  secure  their  independence. 
As  early  as  1775,  Benjamin  Franklin  proposed  to  Congress  a 
plan  somewhat  resembling  his  old  suggestion  to  the  Albany  Con- 
gress of  1754  (§  68).  There  is  evidence  to  show  that  he  had  be- 
fore him  the  Articles  of  the  New  England  Confederation  of 
J^43  (§37)-  He  wanted  a  strong  government  in  which  the 
states  should  be  represented  in  proportion  to  their  population  ; 
and  he  wanted  Congress  to  have  control  of  boundary  dis- 
putes and  future  colonies.  The  committee  on  a  union  (§  98) 
reported  (July  12,  1776)  a  draft  for  a  Confederation,  drawn 
up  by  John  Dickinson,  a  Pennsylvanian.  So  many  disagree- 
ments arose  in  the  debate  that  it  was  not  till  November  15, 
1777,  that  Congress  completed  its  revision  of  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation and  sent  out  the  result  to  the  states  for  ratification. 

The  state  delegations  disagreed  on  many  points,  but  espe- 
cially on  the  following :  Was  the  Union  to  be  strong  or  weak  ? 
Should  slave  property  be  taxed?  Should  Congress  regulate 
foreign  commerce?  Should  Congress  control  the  western  coun- 
try? On  these  and  other  points  the  Articles  as  finally  sub- 
mitted were  much  weaker  than  Franklin's  original  proposition : 
(i)  Congress  was  not  authorized  to  tax  slaves  or  to  regulate 
foreign  commerce ;  nor  was  it  given  any  direct  authority  to 


> 


The  Western  Country  159 

settle  boundary  disputes  or  to  plant  new  colonies.  (2)  Each 
state  in  the  Confederation,  however  small,  was  to  have  an 
equal  vote  in  Congress.  (3)  Revenues  for  the  support  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  to  be  supplied  by  the  states  according  to  the  value 
of  their  lands  —  a  method  which  proved  to  be  impracticable. 

Even  for  this  weakened  plan  of  Union,  ratifications  came  in 
slowly.  During  the  first  year  only  ten  of  the  thirteen  state 
legislatures  ratified ;  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland 
stood  out  because  they  thought  there  ought  to  be  some  pro- 
vision to  prevent  Virginia  from  securing  the  northwestern  lands. 
Not  till  March  i,  1781,  did  Maryland,  the  last  state,  ratify  and 
thus  complete  the  adoption  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 

102.  THE  WESTERN  COUNTRY  (1763-1776) 

Let  us  turn  to  the  West,  which  was  hereafter  to  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  history  and  government  of  the  United 
States.  Though  by  the  Peace  of  Paris  in  1763  (§  69)  the 
British  came  into  control  of  the  region  between  the  Ohio  River, 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  Mississippi,  they  had  to  fight  an 
Indian  war  for  its  possession,  against  the  famous  chief  Pontiac 
(1763-1764).  The  few  little  towns  there,  such  as  Detroit, 
Green  Bay,  St.  Joseph  near  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan, 
Vincennes  on  the  Wabash,  and  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois, 
were  inhabited  by  Frenchmen  and  French  half-breeds.  A 
little  British  government  for  the  region  was  set  up  at  Detroit, 
with  some  slight  authority  in  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia. 

Both  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  claimed  the  forks  of  the 
Ohio,  where  in  1765  the  town  of  Pittsburgh  was  founded. 
People  poured  across  the  mountains,  and  part  of  them  drifted 
southwest  into  the  mountain  regions  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  Then  frontiersmen,  chiefly  Scotch-Irish  and  Ger- 
man, with  a  few  Huguenots,  ignored  the  Proclamation  of  1763 
(§  69),  defied  their  own  colonial  governments,  braved  the  In- 
dians, and  plunged  into  the  western  wilderness. 
HART'S  NEW  AMKR.  HIST.  —  u 


160  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

The  pioneer  in  this  movement  was  Daniel  Boone  of  the 
Yadkin  district  in  North  Carolina,  who  in  1769,  with  five  com- 
panions, started  out  "in  quest  of  the  country  of  Kentucke." 
For  years  he  was  the  leading  spirit  in  a  scattered  community  of 
men  who  were  frontiersmen,  farmers,  trappers,  and  Indian 
fighters  all  at  the  same  time  —  the  first  settlers  in  Kentucky. 
A  second  and  more  continuous  settlement  was  begun  in  1769 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS  IN  THE,  WEST,  AND  CLARK'S  EXPEDITION. 

by  William  Beane,  on  the  Watauga  River,  a  head  stream  of  the 
Tennessee,  a  region  which  he  and  his  neighbors  supposed  to  be 
a  part  of  Virginia,  though  it  proved  to  be  within  the  North 
Carolina  claims.  Under  the  leadership  of  John  Sevier  and 
James  Robertson,  they  formed  a  little  representative  constitu- 
tion under  the  name  of  "Articles  of  the  Watauga  Association." 
By  this  time  the  value  of  the  West  was  apparent  to  some 
capitalists,  who  formed  the  Vandalia  Company,  a  kind  of  suc- 
cessor to  the  old  Ohio  Company  (§  67),  and  asked  for  a  royal 


Indian  Troubles  16 1 

charter  for  a  colony  south  of  the  Ohio.  In  1774,  however, 
Parliament  showed  the  purpose  of  the  British  government  to 
prevent  the  growth  of  any  new  western  commonwealth,  by  the 
Quebec  Act,  which  added  the  region  between  the  Ohio  and 
the  Great  Lakes  to  the  province  of  Quebec. 

Just  at  the  time  the  Revolution  broke  out,  Richard  Hender- 
son of  Virginia,  with  Daniel  Boone  as  his  right-hand  man,  set 
up  what  they  called  the  Transylvania  Company,  in  the  region 
between  the  Cumberland  and  Kentucky  rivers.  Boone  was 
sent  ahead  and  blazed  out  a  pack  trail  known  as  the  Wilderness 
Road,  from  the  Holston  River  (upper  Tennessee)  through  Cum- 
berland Gap  to  Kentucky.  The  new  settlers  founded  Boones- 
boro  and  other  settlements,  and  actually  set  up  a  government 
by  a  delegate  convention.  Later  they  applied  to  Congress  to 
admit  them  as  a  state.  The  people  of  the  Vandalia  region  in 
1776  also  petitioned  Congress  to  make  them  "a  sister  colony 
and  fourteenth  province  of  the  American  confederacy."  Both 
applications  were  distasteful  to  Virginia,  which  in  1776  organized 
Kentucky  County,  with  a  county  seat  at  Harrodsburg,  and  put 
an  end  to  the  Transylvania  government. 

All  these  settlements  were  south  of  the  Ohio  River ;  all  of 
them  were  in  territory  claimed  by  either  Virginia  or  North  Caro- 
lina ;  all  of  them  showed  a  disposition  to  set  up  for  themselves ; 
all  of  them  raised  the  question  of  the  future  control  and  govern- 
ment of  the  West. 

103.   INDIAN  TROUBLES  (1776-1779) 

Although  the  new  western  settlers  made  some  effort  to  pur- 
chase the  Indian  rights  to  the  lands  which  they  occupied,  the 
tribes  were  quick  to  see  that  they  and  the  "long-knives"  could 
not  live  at  peace.  By  this  time,  white  traders  and  explorers 
were  coming  into  close  contact  with  the  Cherokees,  who 
occupied  what  is  now  western  Tennessee  and  northern  Georgia, 
and  Alabama.  They  were  the  Iroquois  of  the  South,  the  bold- 
est, best-organized,  and  most  intelligent  Indians  of  their  region. 


1 62  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

Along  the  whole  frontier  from  south  to  north,  the  Indians 
were  greatly  disturbed  by  the  Revolutionary  War.  Both 
sides  tried  to  win  them  as  allies.  Congress  made  every  effort 
to  placate  them  by  the  same  kind  of  fatherly  control  as  the 
British  government  had  previously  used.  Congress  received 
delegations  of  Indians  in  its  sessions  and  harangued  them, 
appropriated  money  to  buy  presents  for  them,  appointed 
superintendents  of  Indian  affairs,  negotiated  treaties  with  sev- 
eral tribes,  and  made  some  feeble  attempts  to  civilize  them. 

Nothing  could  prevent  war.  The  southwestern  Indians 
attacked  the  neighboring  settlements  in  1776  and  harried  the 
frontier  till  the  South  Carolina  legislature  offered  75  pounds 
for  every  Indian  scalp.  The  middle  frontier,  especially*  of 
Virginia,  was  harassed  by  a  mixed  force  of  British,  Indians, 
and  renegade  whites  directed  by  the  British  governor  of  the 
Northwest  Country.  The  worst  horrors  of  Indian  warfare  were 
felt  in  the  backwoods  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York;  for 
though  the  Iroquois  Six  Nations  were  divided,  a  large  part  of 
them  took  the  British  side.  Joint  forces  of  Tories  and  Indians 
in  1778  ravaged  the  Wyoming  Valley,  Pennsylvania,  and  Cherry 
Valley,  New  York.  The  next  year  Congress  as  a  punishment 
dispatched  an  expedition  under  General  Sullivan,  who  marched 
up  into  the  territory  of  the  Six  Nations,  defeated  the  Indians 
and  their  white  allies,  and  laid  waste  their  villages.  The 
Iroquois  were  so  reduced  in  numbers  and  prestige  by  this  defeat 
that  they  never  again  became  a  force  in  American  affairs. 

104.   CONQUEST  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  (1778-1779) 

The  defeat  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  opened  the  way  for  an 
invasion  of  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  in  which  there 
were  few  British  and  only  about  6000  French  and  French  half- 
breeds.  Among  the  settlers  in  Kentucky  associated  with  Boone 
was  George  Rogers  Clark,  an  excellent  backwoodsman  and 
experienced  Indian  fighter.  He  was  but  twenty-five  years 
old,  and  had  neither  money  nor  men ;  and  no  story  of  the 


Rival  Claims  to  the  West  163 

Arabian  Nights  is  more  romantic  or  improbable  than  his  con- 
ception of  such  an  invasion  and  his  success  in  carrying  it 
out.  Governor  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia  authorized  him  to 
attack  the  British  post  at  Kaskaskia,  not  far  from  St.  Louis. 
With  about  100  men,  Clark  floated  down  the  Ohio  River, 
marched  across  the  country,  and  surprised  and  took  Kaskaskia 
and  Cahokia  (July,  1778).  The  British  commander  of  the 
Northwest  Country,  Hamilton,  began  to  raise  a  force  at  Vin- 
cennes  on  the  Wabash ;  but  Clark  enlisted  the  French  residents, 
whom  he  won  over  by  giving  them  religious  and  civil  liberty. 
These  forces  he  led  in  an  incredible  march  over  flooded  country, 
and  Vincennes  surrendered  without  a  fight,  in  February,  1779. 
The  Americans  remained  to  the  end  of  the  war  in  possession 
of  the  southern  half  of  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  which 
had  been  added  to  the  province  of  Quebec  in  1774  (§  102). 
Clark  was  anxious  to  capture  Detroit,  but  never  could  muster 
a  sufficient  force.  Inasmuch  as  he  was  commissioned  by  Vir- 
ginia, the  government  of  that  state  erected  the  whole  immense 
region  between  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Great  Lakes 
into  the  "County  of  Illinois"  (1778).  This  claim  led  Mary- 
land to  oppose  the  Articles  of  Confederation  (§  101). 

105.   RIVAL  CLAIMS  TO  THE  WEST  (1778-1781) 

By  this  time  it  was  clear  that  the  various  claims  to  the  title 
of  the  West  were  in  confusion,  and  that  the  thirteen  states  were 
at  loggerheads  with  one  another,  in  curiously  involved  groups : 

(1)  Six  of  the  thirteen  states  were  so  definitely  bounded  that 
they  could  not,  by  any  construction  of  their  charters,  claim  any 
part  of  the  West ;    these  were  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland. 

(2)  Four  states  claimed  the  Southwest,  in  four  parallel  bands 
extending  as  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  or  rather,  since  the  Brit- 
ish recognized  the  Spanish  possession  of  the  far  West,  as  far  as 
the  Mississippi.     These  were  Virginia,  by  the  extinct  charter 
of    1609    (§   30) ;    the   two   Carolinas,    on   extinct  grants  of 


90  Longitude  85        West        from         80  Greenwich  75 


Rival  Claims  to  the  West  165 

1663  and   1665    (§  44) ;    and  Georgia  by  the  extinct  charter 
of  1732  (§  46). 

(3)  Virginia  also  claimed  practically  the  whole  of  the  North- 
west, under  the  uncertain  terms  of  the  charter  of  1609,  "Up  into 
the  land  throughout  from  sea  to  sea,  west  and  northwest." 

(4)  Three  other  states  also  claimed  parts  of  the  Northwest. 
(a)  Massachusetts  went  back  to  the  canceled  charter  of  1629 
(§33)»  which  was  partly  revived  by  the  charter  of  1691  (§  46) ; 
and  (ft)  Connecticut  referred  to  the  charter  of  1662  (§  41),  which 
was  in  force  down  to  the  Revolution.     They  claimed  parallel 
strips  of  territory  as  far  as  the  Mississippi,  covering  part  of  the 
territory  in  the  Virginia  claim,     (c)  New  York  had  no  charter, 
and  no  settlements  west  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  but  set  up  an  in- 
definite claim  to  the  upper  Ohio  country  on  the  ground  that  it 
belonged  to  Indians  who  were  subject  to  the  Six  Nations,  who 
had  ceded  it  to  New  York.     Her  claim  conflicted  with  those  of 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Virginia. 

Manifestly  these  claims  could  not  all  be  made  good;  and 
clearly  it  was  contrary  to  the  interests  of  all  the  other  states  of 
the  Union  that  Virginia  should  be  allowed  to  extend  from  tide 
water  to  Lake  Superior  and  to  possess  a  third  of  the  territory 
of  the  Union.  The  only  way  out  was  to  recognize  the  common- 
sense  principle  that  the  whole  nation  had  rights  in  the  western 
lands.  The  West  was  conquered  and  held  only  because  the 
British  were  kept  busy  on  the  coast  by  the  continental  army. 
Hence  Maryland  stood  out  for  holding  the  western  lands. 

As  a  pledge  that  the  lands  should  be  used  for  all  the  states, 
Congress  passed  a  momentous  vote  (October  10,  1780)  that 
"The  unappropriated  lands  which  may  be  ceded  to  ...  the 
United  States  shall  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
United  States,  and  be  settled  and  formed  into  distinct  republican 
states,  which  shall  become  members  of  the  federal  union." 
New  York  and  Virginia  promised  to  cede  at  least  a  part  of  their 
claims,  and  without  waiting  for  the  details  to  be  settled,  Mary- 
land ratified  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 


1 66  Building  of  a  New  Nation 

106.   REVIEW 

More  important  than  the  military  events  of  the  Revolution 
is  the  building  up  of  the  new  nation,  in  which  the  western  settle- 
ments took  a  part.  The  organized  patriots  were  led  by  such 
men  as  Patrick  Henry  and  Samuel  Adams. 

Early  in  the  war  independence  was  urged  by  such  writers  as 
Thomas  Paine,  and  such  statesmen  as  Richard  Henry  Lee  of 
Virginia.  In  June,  1776,  a  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
drawn  by  Thomas  Jefferson  of  Virginia ;  and  it  was  adopted  by 
Congress,  July  4,  1776.  This  Declaration  set  forth  the  funda- 
mental rights  of  man,  and  the  recent  violations  of  those  rights. 

To  carry  out  this  Declaration,  new  state  and  national  govern- 
ments were  needed.  All  the  thirteen  states,  and  also  Vermont, 
adopted  constitutions.  Congress  also  drew  up  Articles  of  Con- 
federation, as  a  federal  constitution  for  the  Union  (November, 
1777) ;  they  were  not  adopted  by  all  the  states  till  1781. 

A  new  element  in  American  history  was  the  West,  where  in  the 
Illinois  country  and  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  flourishing  little 
settlements  were  made  by  Daniel  Boone  and  other  noted  pioneers. 
A  large  part  of  the  Six  Nations  took  the  British  side  in  the 
Revolution,  and  were  therefore  invaded  and  almost  annihilated. 

Virginia  entered  into  the  conquest  of  the  West  by  sending  out 
George  Rogers  Clark  in  1778,  who  captured  several  British  posts 
in  what  is  now  southern  Illinois  and  Indiana.  This  revived  the 
confused  claims  to  the  western  country,  parts  of  which  were 
claimed  by  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  dfarolina,  and  Georgia.  Congress  urged 
the  states  to  surrender  their  claims,  and  the  process  was  begun 
by  cessions  from  New  York  and  Virginia  in  1781. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.     See  references  in  ch.  viii. 

Secondary.  Becker,  Beginnings,  247-254,  262-267,  270-274.  — 
Channing,  U.S.,  III.  chs.  vii,  xiv.  —  Hart,  Formation  of  the  Union, 
§§  36-39,  43~4S- — Hazelton,  Declaration  of  Independence. — Morse, 


References  and  Topics  167 

Benjamin  Franklin,  chs.  viii,  xii ;  John  Adams,  chs.  iv-vi;  Thomas 
JeJJerson,  chs.  iii-vi.  —  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  I,  II.  — 
Schouler,  Americans  of  1776.  —  Thwaites,  Daniel  Boone. — Tyler,  Am. 
Revolution  (literary),  I.  chs.  xix-xxiii,  II ;  Patrick  Henry,  chs.  xii-xv. — 
Van  Tyne,  Am.  Rev.,  chs.  iv-vi,  ix-xi,  xiv,  xv ;  Loyalists. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  n,  20.  —  Beard,  Readings,  §§  10- 
13.  —  Caldwell,  Terr.  Development,  26-48.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  II. 
§§  I34~I37>  IS9~I69,  184-190,  205-210;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  II. 
15-50,  59-6i>  68-74,  78-96,  123-139,  142-149,  153-166,  193-197,  216- 
223. —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  chs.  xiii-xv.  —  James,  Readings,  §§  32-35. 

—  Johnson,  Readings,  §§  13-17,  22-25.  — MacDonald,  Select  Docs.,  nos. 
i,  2.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  2,  3,  43,  97,  152. 

Illustrative.  Campbell,  Gertrude  of  Wyoming.  —  Eggleston,  Am. 
War  Ballads,  I.  23-101.  —  Ford,  Janice  Meredith.  —  Freneau,  Poems.  — 
Kennedy,  Horseshoe  Robinson  (loyalists).  —  Matthews,  Poems  of  Am. 
Patriotism,  8-82.  —Mitchell,  Hugh  Wynne.  —  Thompson,  Alice  of  Old 
Vincciines.  —  Trumbull,  M'Fingal.  —  See  also  refs.  to  ch.  viii. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  VI.  —  Mentor,  serial  no.  32.  —  Wilson,  Am. 
People,  II.  —  Winsor,  America,  VI. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Early  settlers  in  Kentucky,  or  in  Tennessee.  [§  96]  —  (2)  Treat- 
ment of  the  loyalists.  [§96]  —  (3)  Contemporary  accounts  of  the  Declara- 
tionof  Independence.  [§98]  —  (4)  Franklin's  plan  of  a  federal  constitution. 
[§  101]  —  (5)  Pontiac's  war  with  the  English.  [§  102]  —  (6)  French 
colonial  towns  in  the  West.  [§  102]  —  (7)  Adventures  of  Daniel  Boone, 
or  of  John  Sevier.  [§  102]  —  (8)  Life  of  the  early  western  settlers.  [§  103] 

—  (9)  Indian  and  British  frontier  raids.  [§  103]  —  (10)   Sullivan's  raid. 
[§  103]  —  (IJ)   George  Rogers  Clark's  campaign.  [§  104] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(12)  Influence  on  the  Revolution  of  one  of  the  following  men  :  Patrick 
Henry;  Thomas  Paine;  John  Dickinson;  John  Adams;  Samuel 
Adams;  Robert  Morris;  Richard  Henry  Lee;  Franklin;  Jefferson. 
[§§97,  98]  —  (13)  Influence  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the 
world.  [§  99]  —  (14)  Account  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress  or  Conven- 
tion in  one  of  the  thirteen  original  states.  [§  100]  —  (15)  Maryland's 
objections  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  [§  101]  —  (16)  Account  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians.  [§  103]  —  (17)  Did  the  eastern  states  have  good 
claims  to  western  territory?  [§  105] 


CHAPTER  X 

CONFEDERATION  AND  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 
(1781-1788) 

107.   CONGRESS  AND  THE  CONFEDERATION 

FOR  many  months  before  the  Articles  of  Confederation  were 
finally  adopted,  Congress  had  been  acting  on  the  supposition 
that  they  would  be  ratified,  and  people  hardly  realized  that  this 
constitution  went  into  effect  on  March  i,  1781.  The  govern- 
ment thus  established  suffered  from  so  many  troubles  that  it 
has  been  looked  upon  as  a  failure.  In  fact  it  was  the  best 
organized  and  most  thoroughgoing  confederation  that  the 
world  had  ever  seen,  though  far  inferior  in  efficiency  to  its  suc- 
cessor. Although  Congress  was  the  only  recognized  federal 
authority  under  the  Articles,  it  chose  to  act  through  three 
departments  as  follows : 

(1)  Congress  itself  was  made  up  of  delegates  appointed  by 
the  state  legislatures,  each  state  delegation  casting  one  vote. 
On  several  vital  questions,  no  motion  could  be  carried  except  by 
the  affirmative  vote  of  nine  states. 

(2)  Congress    created    executive    offices    and    commissioned 
officials,  particularly  the  Secretary  at  War,  the  Superintendent 
of  Finance,  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  the  Post- 
master-General. 

(3)  Congress  set  up  a  Court  of  Appeals  in  Prize  Cases,  to 
which  cases  concerning  captured  vessels  could  be  carried  from 
the  state  courts. 

Congress  had  no  fixed  place  of  meeting,  but  held  sessions  at 
1 68 


Treaty  of  Peace  169 

Philadelphia,  Trenton,  Annapolis,  and  other  places.  From 
1785  it  sat  at  New  York.  Membership  was  not  much  prized, 
and  it  was  hard  to  get  first-class  men  to  enter  Congress;  but 
Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Madison,  and 
James  Monroe,  later  Presidents  of  the 
United  States,  all  showed  their  great 
abilities  as  members  of  Congress. 

108.  TREATY  or  PEACE  (1782-1783) 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of 
Congress  was  to  secure  a  peace  with 
Great  Britain.  When  Lord  North,  the 
Prime  Minister,  heard  of  the  Yorktown 
surrender  (§  94)  he  cried  out,  "O  God, 
it  is  all  over ! "  The  merchants  in 
England  had  suffered  enormous  losses 
by  captures  of  their  shipping,  and 
therefore  strongly  urged  a  peace;  and 
King  George  III  was  obliged  to  accept 
an  opposition  ministry,  which  was  de- 
termined to  end  the  war. 

A  strong  commission  —  Franklin, 
John  Adams,  John  Jay,  and  Henry 
Laurens  —  was  selected  to  represent 
this  country  in  peace  negotiations  at 
Paris  in  1782.  Though  their  instructions 
provided  that  these  envoys  should  take 
no  steps  without  the  approval  of  the 
French  government,  they  became  satis- 
fied that  the  French  did  not  desire  to 
give  a  good  boundary  west  of  the 
Appalachians.  In  consultation  in  their  rooms  one  day, 
Franklin  said  to  Jay,  "Would  you  break  your  instructions?" 
"Yes,  as  I  break  this  pipe."  The  pipe  went  into  the  fire, 
and  the  instructions  were  ignored;  an  unexpectedly  favorable 


1918. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  FLAG. 


170      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

treaty  with  Great   Britain   was    secured   without  the   aid   of 
France,  under  date  of  November  30,  1782. 
The  main  features  of  this  treaty  were  as  follows : 

(1)  Great    Britain    recognized    the    independence    of    the 
United  States. 

(2)  The  boundary  was  to  run  from  the  river  St.  Croix  north- 
ward to  the  watershed    of   the  St.   Lawrence ;    thence  along 
that  ridge  and  on  the  45th  parallel  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River ; 
thence  up  that  river  and  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods ;  thence  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  3 1st  parallel ;  thence 
eastward  to  the  head  of  St.  Marys  River,  and  by  that  river  to 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

(3)  "The  right  to  take  fish  of  every  kind"  from  the  grand 
banks  of  Newfoundland  was  acknowledged,  together  with  the 
"liberty"  to  dry  and  cure  fish  on  the  neighboring  unsettled  bays 
and  creeks  of  Canada. 

(4)  British  merchants  were  to  have  the  right  to  collect  debts 
due  when  the  Revolution  broke  out,  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  British  agreed  to  withdraw  their  armies  from  the  United 
States  without  taking  away  "negroes  or  other  property  of  the 
Americans." 

(5)  Congress  was  to  recommend  the  states  to  receive  and  treat 
well  the  loyalists  who  had  not  taken  arms  in  the  British  service. 

This  so-called  Preliminary  Treaty  of  1782  practically  ended 
the  Revolutionary  War.  A  year  later  a  "Definitive  Treaty" 
to  the  same  effect  was  signed  and  in  due  time  was  ratified  by 
Congress.  New  York  was  evacuated  by  the  British  in  1783. 
The  United  States  of  America  had  at  last  fully  proved  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  real. 

109.   NATIONAL  FINANCES  (1776-1788) 

Upon  Congress  fell  the  serious  responsibility  of  providing  for 
the  finances  of  the  Revolutionary  War  and  for  the  debt  left  at 
the  end  of  the  war.  During  the  Revolution  every  device  was 
used  to  raise  money.  The  states  laid  taxes  which  were  collected 


National  Finances 


171 


with  difficulty ;  they  issued  $210,000,000  of  paper  money,  most 
of  which  was  never  redeemed ;  they  fixed  prices  in  paper  money 
and  punished  those  who  refused  to  receive  it ;  they  confiscated 
the  estates  of  the  loyalists;  they  borrowed  money,  and 
could  not  pay  the  interest.  National  finances  were  not  much 
better,  as  was  shown  by  the  accumulation  of  several  kinds  of 
debt:  (i)  domestic,  including  bonds  and  certificates  to  cred- 
itors, amounting  to 
about  $  1 1 ,000,000 ; 
(2)  foreign,  due  to 
France  and  French 
officers,  amount- 
ing to  about 
$6,000,000;  (3)  un- 
settled and  un- 
funded debts  — 
perhaps  $16,000,- 
ooo ;  (4)  paper 
money:  from  1775 
to  1781,  Congress 


CONTINENTAL  PAPER  MONEY. 


issued  $242,000,000  in  paper  money,  which  rapidly  declined  in 
purchasing  power.  Toward  the  end  of  the  war  a  specie  dollar 
would  buy  a  thousand  dollars  in  continental  currency,  and 

"  Paper  money  became  so  cheap, 
Folks  wouldn't  count  it,  but  said  '  a  heap.'  " 

The  paper  money,  both  state  and  national,  was  really  a  kind  of 
taxation.  Congress  got  about  forty  million  dollars'  worth  of 
supplies  and  of  soldiers'  services  for  the  paper  notes  which  were 
never  redeemed ;  and  therefore  the  system  caused  that  amount 
of  loss  to  the  people  through  whose  hands  the  notes  passed, 
or  in  whose  possession  they  were  finally  left.  The  Confed- 
eration did  not  attempt  to  float  paper  money,  but  about  half 
the  states  put  out  new  issues  after  the  war  was  over. 
In  the  seven  years  from  1781  to  1788  the  states  turned  in 


172      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

about  $500,000  a  year  in  specie  to  the  national  government, 
which  was  the  only  cash  income  of  the  United  States  except  some 
money  lent  by  France  and  by  Dutch  bankers.  Robert  Morris 
of  Philadelphia,  who  was  then  considered  the  richest  man  in 
America,  was  put  in  charge  of  the  finances,  but  resigned  in  1784. 
At  that  time  the  outstanding  federal  debt  was  about  $40,000,000, 
and  the  interest  upon  it  was  rolling  up  from  year  to  year. 

no.   NATIONAL  COMMERCE  (1781-1788) 

After  the  Revolution,  European  countries  were  anxious  to 
make  treaties  with  the  United  States,  so  as  to  get  a  part  of  our 
trade ;  and  several  such  commercial  treaties  were  negotiated. 
Spain  stood  off  because  the  United  States  asked  for  the  right  to 
navigate  the  Mississippi  River  to  its  mouth,  without  paying 
duties  to  the  Spanish  colony  of  Louisiana,  through  which  the 
river  flowed  for  the  last  hundred  miles  of  its  course.  This 
concession  Spain  absolutely  refused,  and  Congress  was  inclined 
to  accept  the  Spanish  terms;  but  some  of  the  southwestern 
people  roundly  threatened  to  leave  the  Union  if  cut  off  from 
the  sea.  Washington  wrote :  "  The  western  states  (I  speak  now 
from  my  own  observation)  stand  as  it  were  upon  a  pivot.  The 
touch  of  a  feather  would  turn  them  any  way."  The  whole 
matter  was  postponed  for  the  time. 

Now  that  the  United  States  was  completely  separated  from 
Great  Britain  and  no  longer  subject  to  the  Navigation  Acts, 
our  government  was  unexpectedly  made  to  understand  that  it 
had  lost  the  special  privileges  of  trade  with  the  British  colonies. 
The  navigation  system  (§  80)  was  applied  against  the  United 
States  when  (July,  1783)  the  British  government  closed  the 
West  India  trade  to  all  vessels  except  those  built  and  owned  by 
British  subjects.  Still,  direct  trade  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  went  on  freely  in  the  vessels  of  both  nations ; 
and  the  British  merchants  got  most  of  the  American  orders  for 
foreign  goods;  hence  Great  Britain  saw  no  reason  for  making 
a  commercial  treaty. 


States  and  the  Union  173 

In  other  respects  the  treaty  of  1782-1783  did  not  end  the  con- 
troversies between  the  two  countries.  The  British  merchants 
complained  that  the  state  governments  prevented  them  from 
collecting  the  old  debts;  and  the  British  government  was  in- 
censed because  the  loyalists  were  not  allowed  to  return  and 
resume  their  place  in  the  states.  On  the  other  side,  the  Ameri- 
cans complained  that  the  retiring  British  troops  carried  off  negro 
slaves,  and  the  British  kept  possession  of  about  twelve  little 
posts  inside  the  northern  American  boundary. 

Our  trade  and  foreign  relations  were  in  an  unsatisfactory 
state  during  the  whole  life  of  the  Confederation. 

in.   STATES  AND  THE  UNION  (1781-1788) 

Within  the  Union  also  there  were  serious  quarrels :  first  of 
all,  about  the  western  lands,  and  then  about  commerce.  One 
reason  why  Great  Britain  refused  to  make  a  commercial  treaty 
was  that  certain  states  undertook  to  regulate  commerce  without 
any  treaty.  Some  laid  discriminating  duties  on  British  ships; 
others  took  off  discriminations,  so  as  to  induce  British  ships  to 
come  to  their  ports.  Three  states  —  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
and  Pennsylvania  —  adopted  protective  tariff  duties  which  were 
applied  against  their  neighbors;  and  New  Jersey  retaliated 
with  an  act  taxing  the  New  York  lighthouse  on  Sandy  Hook. 
Among  the  state  acts  that  most  affected  neighboring  states 
were  the  "Stay  and  Tender"  laws,  suspending  all  suits  for  debt 
for  six  months  or  a  year,  or  permitting  the  debtor  to  offer  goods, 
cattle,  or  even  land  in  payment  of  his  debts. 

So  far  as  we  can  now  judge,  the  country  was  prosperous  during 
this  period,  though  the  governments  were  in  financial  trouble. 
Population  was  increasing,  towns  were  growing,  houses  and 
ships  were  being  built,  and  quantities  of  goods  were  imported. 
The  main  trouble  was  the  difficulty  of  paying  for  these  goods ; 
for  the  exports  were  less  than  before  the  Revolution,  and  there 
was  very  little  hard  money — gold  and  silver — in  the  country. 
Everybody  found  it  difficult  to  pay  debts  and  taxes ;  and  under 


174      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

the  laws  of  the  time  a  man  might  be  kept  indefinitely  in  jail 
for  no  other  cause  than  inability  to  pay  his  debts.  From  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other,  there  was  a  chorus  of  complaint 
—  much  of  it  justified  —  that  court  fees  and  lawsuits  and  im- 
prisonment for  debt  were  intolerable  hardships. 

In  several  states  riots  broke  out  and  rose  almost  to  revolu- 
tions. The  climax  was  reached  in  the  Shays  Rebellion  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, which  made  a  great  impression  on  the  country. 
Early  in  1787  Captain  Daniel  Shays  got  together  about  1800 
men,  and  even  attacked  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Springfield. 
State  militia  was  sent  to  break  up  the  insurrection ;  when  the 
two  forces  actually  met  each  other  at  Petersham,  the  rebels 
gave  way  in  confusion,  and  order  was  shortly  restored.  This 
rebellion  was  important  as  showing  the  weakness  of  the  federal 
government,  which  had  no  power  to  maintain  order. 

112.     DIVISION   ON   THE   SLAVERY  QUESTION 

Down  to  the  Revolution,  when  slavery  and  the  slave  trade 
were  legal  in  every  colony,  there  was  not  much  chance  for 
differences  between  the  sections  on  that  question.  The  few 
antislavery  advocates,  such  as  John  Woolman,  a  Quaker  lay 
preacher,  worked  in  both  northern  and  southern  colonies.  There 
was  no  antislavery  society  until  1775,  when  one  was  formed  in 
Philadelphia.  Up  to  this  time  the  main  argument  against 
slavery  had  been  that  slavery  was  unchristian.  Now  came  the 
doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Bills  of 
Rights,  in  favor  of  the  equality  of  all  men.  Then  followed  the 
first  legal  step  against  slavery,  which  was  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave  trade  by  votes  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  by  statutes 
of  most  of  the  individual  states. 

In  the  debates  on  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  however, 
northern  members  began  to  criticize  the  South  for  slavery ;  and 
between  1777  and  1784,  five  states  and  one  semi-independent 
community  laid  the  ban  of  law  on  slavery,  (i)  Vermont  in 
its  constitution  of  1777  prohibited  the  slavery  of  grown  men  and 


Western  Land  Question  settled  175 

women.  (2)  Pennsylvania  in  1780  passed  an  act  providing 
that  all  persons  born  within  the  commonwealth  after  the  date 
of  the  act  should  be  born  free.  (3)  The  Massachusetts  consti- 
tution of  1780  declared  that  "All  men  are  born  free  and  equal," 
which  the  courts  afterward  held  to  be  a  prohibition  of  slavery. 
(4)  A  similar  clause  in  the  revised  constitution  of  New  Hamp- 
shire in  1 783  had  the  same  effect  in  that  state.  (5)  In  Connecticut 
and  (6)  Rhode  Island,  emancipation  acts,  similar  to  that  of  Penn- 
sylvania, were  passed  in  1784.  The  gap  between  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania  was  closed  by  emancipation  acts  of  New 
York  (1799)  and  New  Jersey  (1804).  Thus  was  created  a  solid 
block  of  territory,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  Lake 
Erie,  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  (the  southern  boundary 
of  Pennsylvania),  in  which  slavery  was  dead  or  dying  (map, 
page  179).  The  result  was  that  the  Union  was  divided  into 
two  sections,  with  hostile  labor  systems.  Such  men  as  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson,  however,  believed  that  slavery  would 
soon  disappear  in  the  South  as  well  as  in  the  North. 

113.   WESTERN  LAND  QUESTION  SETTLED  (1781-1790) 

If  Congress  showed  little  capacity  to  deal  with  the  pressing 
financial  and  commercial  questions,  it  nevertheless  settled 
another  issue,  upon  which  it  had  no  authority  under  the  Articles. 
This  was  the  western  land  controversy,  involving  the  three 
questions  of  state  claims,  administration  of  the  public  lands,  and 
organization  of  new  western  communities.  This  adjustment  is 
shown  in  many  parts  of  the  present  map  of  the  West  and  in  the 
public  land  system,  and  should  therefore  be  carefully  stated. 

The  four  states  claiming  the  lands  north  of  the  Ohio  River 
(§  105)  all  gracefully  yielded :  (i)  New  York  ceded  all  claims 
west  of  the  present  western  boundary  of  that  state  (1781). 
(2)  Virginia  gave  up  all  claims  to  territory  north  of  the  Ohio 
River,  except  ownership  of  the  Virginia  Reserve  Military 
Bounty  Lands  (1784).  (3)  Massachusetts  yielded  all  claims 
west  of  New  York  (1785),  and  gave  up  to  that  state  her 


176      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

claim  to  govern  western  New  York,  retaining  ownership  in 
the  lands.  (4)  Connecticut  yielded  her  claims  (1786),  with 
the  exception  of  the  "Western  Reserve" — a  strip  along  Lake 
Erie  west  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  claims  south  of  the  Ohio  River  (§  105)  were  harder  to 
adjust,  (i)  To  Virginia,  by  an  agreement  of  1784,  was  left 

the  District  of  Kentucky, 
which  remained  a  part  of 
Virginia  until  later  admitted 
as  a  state.  (2)  South  Caro- 
lina gave  up  her  claim  to  a 
narrow  strip  lying  between 
western  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia  (1787).  (3)  North 
Carolina  claimed  Tennessee, 
including  the  Watauga  and 
other  settlements,  and  issued 
land  grants  covering  most  of 
the  tract,  but  eventually 
ceded  to  Congress  the  right 
to  govern  the  region  (1790).  (4)  Georgia  claimed  everything 
between  the  present  state  and  the  Mississippi  River,  and  did 
not  consent  to  accept  her  present  state  boundaries  till  1802. 

114.  PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  WESTERN  SETTLEMENTS  (1780-1785) 

Before  any  part  of  the  disputed  lands  came  under  the  exclu- 
sive control  of  Congress,  that  body  made  preparations  to  sell 
them  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  to  paying  off  the  national  debt. 
The  first  Public  Land  Act  in  our  national  history  was  the  Gray- 
son  Ordinance  (1785).  In  this  act  is  included  the  system  of 
surveying  the  land  into  square  blocks,  a  plan  based  on  a  sugges- 
tion from  Thomas  Jefferson.  Provision  was  made  for  dividing 
the  western  country  into  townships  six  miles  square  by  lines 
running  east  and  west,  crossed  at  regular  intervals  by  lines 
running  north  and  south.  Each  township  was  to  be  subdivided 


THE  NORTHWEST  IN  1800. 


Public  Lands  and  Western  Settlements       177 

by  lines  a  mile  apart  into  thirty-six  sections,  one  of  which  was 
reserved  for  schools.  The  standard  government  price  was  to 
be  $i  an  acre. 

It  was  one  thing  to  offer  the  land  and  another  to  dispose  of  it. 
Some  tracts  were  held  by  squatters  who  had  to  be  driven  off  by 
troops.  The  states  and  the  private  holders  of  warrants  for 
bounty  lands 
had  great  quan- 
tities to  sell 
below  the  gov- 
ernment price. 
Hence  several 
shrewd  men 
hit  on  the  idea 
of  buying  land, 
not  with  cash, 
but  with  cer- 
tificates of  the 
national  debt 


t> 

3 

Enlarged 
Sketch  of  Township. 

1 

I 

i 

2  North,  Range  V  West 
showing  Sections. 

VI 

V 

IV 

III 

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1 

6 

& 

4 

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a 

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7 

S 

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10 

11 

1J 

1 

18 

17 

M 

15 

H 

11 

1'J 

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Hi 

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!!3 

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J 

MKTHOD  OF  PUBLIC  LAND  SURVEY. 


which  were  then  at  a  distressing  discount.  To  float  these  schemes, 
three  companies  were  formed:  (i)  The  Ohio  Company  con- 
tracted to  buy  about  1,500,000  acres  and  took  about  900,000. 
(2)  The  Symmes  Company  wanted  1,000,000  acres,  and  finally 
got  250,000,  including  the  site  of  Cincinnati.  (3)  The  Scioto 
Company,  managed  by  speculators,  undertook  to  buy  3,500,000 
acres  but  never  took  any.  In  the  year  1788  the  state  of  Penn- 
sylvania bought  the  triangle  of  land  west  of  the  New  York  line, 
—  200,000  acres,  —  which  gave  to  the  state  a  lake  front,  includ- 
ing the  site  of  the  city  of  Erie. 

All  these  sales  were  in  the  Northwest.  In  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  the  frontier  was  settled  by  hardy  people  called 
"backwoodsmen."  They  were  of  Scotch-Irish,  German,  and 
English  descent,  but  when  thrown  together  they  speedily 
became  one  people.  They  took  up  farms  by  land  patents,  or 
by  "tomahawk  right"  ;  that  is,  by  blazing  trees  where  they 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  12 


178      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

meant  to  settle.  In  a  few  days  of  hard  labor  they  could  build 
a  log  house ;  in  a  few  days  more,  a  fort.  Their  large  families 
of  children  grew  up  and  settled  more  land  about  them,  or  plunged 
into  the  far  backwoods.  Their  ordinary  dress  was  the  fringed 

hunting  shirt  and 
leggings,  and  their 
flintlock  rifles  brought' 
down  game  or  Indians, 
according  as  they  shot. 
The  Kentuckians  in 
1 784  took  steps  toward 
the  immediate  estab- 
lishment of  a  state 
government,  but  de- 
sisted when  Virginia 
intimated  that  she 
would  soon  give  her 
consent  to  the  sepa- 
ration. In  Tennessee 
a  convention  formally 
voted  to  establish  a 
state  of  Franklin 
(1784),  elected  John 
Sevier  governor,  chose 


A  FRONTIER  POST,  1787.     (Fort  Steuben, 
Ohio.     From  a  recent  restoration.) 


a  legislature,  made  laws,  and  defied  the  jurisdiction  of  North 
Carolina.  Again  a  policy  of  conciliation  was  followed ;  and  the 
people  returned  to  their  allegiance  under  the  promise  that  North 
Carolina  would  transfer  the  territory  to  the  United  States. 

115.  THE  NORTHWEST  ORDINANCE  (1784-1788) 

Although  Congress  had  no  authority  under  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  to  create  territories,  nevertheless  it  did  so  in 
order  to  provide  a  proper  government  for  the  western  settlers. 
Jefferson  drafted  a  general  ordinance  for  temporary  territorial 
governments ;  this  was  adopted  by  Congress  but  was  never  put 


The  Northwest  Ordinance 


179 


into  force.  Several  Revolutionary  officers  from  Massachusetts, 
headed  by  Rufus  Putnam,  organized  a  land  company  called 
the  Ohio  Com- 
pany of  Asso- 
ciates.  In 
1787  Manas- 
seh  Cutler,  the 
agent  of  the 
company,  ap- 
plied to  Con- 
gress, which 
was  then  sit- 
ting in  New 
York,  to  sell 
them  a  tract  of 
land,  and  also 
to  provide  a 
form  of  gov- 
ernment es- 
pecially for 
their  settle- 
ment This  SLAVE  AND  FREE  SECTIONS,  1804. 

was  granted  in  the  famous  Northwest  Ordinance  dated  July  31, 
1787,  of  which  the  principal  points  are  the  following: 

(1)  It  specifically  applied  to  the  Northwest  Territory,  lying 
between  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Great  Lakes. 

(2)  A  governor  and  three  judges,  appointed  by  Congress, 
were  to  act  as  a  board  to  select  laws  for  the  territory. 

(3)  Provision  was  made  for  a  later  representative  assembly, 
with  power  to  elect  a  non-voting  delegate  to  Congress,  and  to 
make  laws  subject  to  the  governor's  veto. 

(4)  Six  "Articles  of  Compact"  provided  for  personal  liberty, 
for  religious  freedom,  for  "schools  and  the  means  of  education," 
and  added  the  momentous  provision:    "There  shall  be  neither 
Slavery  nor  involuntary  Servitude  in  the  said  Territory,  other- 


tn     300     ion 


180      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

wise  than  in  the  punishment  of  Crimes,  whereof  the  Party  shall 
have  been  duly  Convicted."  This  extended  the  belt  of  free 
territory  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Mississippi. 

Colonists  se'nt  by  the  Ohio  Company  traveled  from  Massa- 
chusetts, west  to  Pittsburgh;  and  on  April  7,  1788,  founded 
the  town  of  Marietta,  at  the  junction  of  the  Muskingum  and 
Ohio  rivers.  The  first  territorial  government  was  established 
under  the  governorship  of  General  St.  Clair.  The  Ordinance 
of  1787  was  thus  put  into  force,  and  was  the  basis  of  free  gov- 
ernment in  a  region  out  of  which  .live  new  states  have  since 
been  formed. 

116.   WEAKNESS  or  THE  CONFEDERATION  (1781-1788) 

Notwithstanding  the  good  things  in  the  Confederation  and 
its  success  in  dealing  with  the  difficult  problems  of  the  western 
lands  and  territory,  it  showed  many  lines  of  weakness,  of  which 
the  following  were  the  most  important : 

(1)  The  organization  of  Congress  was  poor.     No  action  could 
be  taken  unless  at  least  two  members  were  present  from  each  of 
seven  states ;  no  important  action  was  possible  without  the  vote 
of  nine  states ;   and  sometimes  for  weeks  together  there  was  no 
quorum. 

(2)  The  powers  of  the  Confederation  were  not  sufficient.    It 
had  no  control  over  commerce  between  the  states  and  there- 
fore could  not  prevent  them  from  passing  acts  intended  to  hurt 
one  another  (§  in).      It  could  not  control  commerce  with 
foreign  countries.     Above  all  it  could  not  lay  any  duties  or 
direct  taxes  on  individuals,  and  the  requisitions  on  the  states 
barely  produced  enough  to  pay  necessary  salaries. 

(3)  No  means  were  provided  for  carrying  out  the  powers 
granted  by   the  Confederation.     Congress   could   not  compel 
individuals  to  obey,  and  could  not  keep  the  states  up  to  their 
duties. 

These  difficulties  were  clear  to  the  thinking  men  in  the  coun- 
try ;  and  Congress  tried  three  times  to  induce  the  states  to  accept 


Weakness  of  the  Confederation 


181 


constitutional  amendments  which  would  at  least  have  tided 
over  the  trouble:  (i)  By  the  "Five  Per  Cent  Scheme"  (1781) 
Congress  would  have  had  the  power  to  lay  a  very  small  duty 
upon  imports,  the  proceeds  to  go  toward  paying  the  principal 
and  interest  of  the  public  debt.  (2)  By  the  "Revenue  Plan" 
(1783)  Congress  would  have  had  the  right  to  lay  specific  duties 
on  a  very  low  scale.  (3)  The  "  Commerce  Amendment "  (1784) 
would  have  made  it  possible  to  pass  laws  discriminating  against 
the  commerce  of  countries  which  refused  to  make  commercial 
treaties.  Each  of  the  first  two  of  these  amendments  received 
twelve  ratifications  out  of  the  necessary  thirteen.  The  third 
was  ratified  by  only  seven  states. 

No  man  in  this  difficult  time  was  more  persistent  in  urging  a 
strong  government  than  George  Washington,  then  living  in  re- 


Morxx  \ 


rom  an  engraving  by  Stuart.) 


tirement  at  Mount  Vernon.  In  1786  he  wrote  a  famous  letter 
urging  a  stronger  union.  He  complained  that  "Thirteen  sov- 
ereignties pulling  against  each  other,  and  all  tugging  at  the 
federal  head,  will  soon  bring  ruin  on  the  whole."  When  asked 


182      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

to  use  his  influence  for  reform,  he  replied:  "Influence  is  no 
government.  Let  us  have  one  by  which  our  lives,  liberties, 
and  properties  will  be  secured,  or  let  us  know  the  worst  at 
once." 

117.  THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  CALLED  (1786-1787) 

Since  Congress  could  not  rouse  the  states  into  action,  sev- 
eral public  men  suggested  a  special  constitutional  convention. 
A  meeting  of  delegates  from  five  states  at  Annapolis  (Septem- 
ber, 1786)  proposed  that  a  general  convention  meet  in  Phila- 
delphia to  prepare  amendments  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
Under  this  unofficial  call  some  of  the  states  began  to  elect  dele- 
gates, and  Congress  then  reluctantly  issued  a  formal  call  for  a 
convention  "for  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of  revising  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  and  reporting  to  Congress  and  the 
several  legislatures,  such  alterations  and  provisions  therein,  as 
shall,  when  agreed  to  in  Congress  and  confirmed  by  the  states, 
render  the  federal  constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of 
government,  and  the  preservation  of  the  union." 

Eleven  of  the  states  responded  promptly  by  choosing  delegates. 
New  Hampshire  came  in  late  and  Rhode  Island  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  Convention.  Among  the  fifty-five  members  of  the 
Convention  were  some  of  the  greatest  Americans,  including 
eight  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  heavy 
work  fell  on  a  few  leaders.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  old,  but  as 
shrewd  as  ever.  Alexander  Hamilton,  one  of  the  most  impetuous 
members  of  the  Convention,  took  too  extreme  ground  and  lost 
influence.  William  Paterson  of  New  Jersey  spoke  for  the  small 
states.  James  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania,  later  a  justice  of  the 
federal  Supreme  Court,  was  the  keenest  constitutional  lawyer. 
The  strongest  group  of  the  Convention  was  the  Virginia  dele- 
gation, including  George  Washington,  who  gave  it  prestige 
throughout  the  country. 

The  man  who  did  most  to  harmonize  the  sharp  differences 
in  the  Convention  was  James  Madison  of  Virginia.  In  1787 


The  Constitutional  Convention  called        183 

Madison  was  only  thirty-six  years  old.     A  graduate  of  Princeton 
College,  he  had  seen  service  in  the  Virginia  legislature  and 


GEORGF.  WASHINGTON  IN 


(From  Wright's  portrait.) 


in  Congress,  where  he  learned  to  know  the  difficulties  of  the 
Confederation.  He  was  a  studious  man,  and  before  the  Con- 
vention began  sent  for  all  the  books  that  he  could  find  on  the 


184      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

history  of  earlier  confederations,  and  prepared  a  sort  of  summary 
of  those  books,  which  he  sent  to  Washington.  He  also  con- 
sulted with  his  friends  in  Virginia  and  elsewhere,  and  drew  up 
the  strongly  federal  "Virginia  Plan"  or  "Randolph  Plan"  as 
a  basis  of  argument. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Convention  it  occurred  to  Madison 
that  posterity  would  be  interested  in  the  debates ;  and  as 
there  were  no  reporters,  he  took  down  in  shorthand  an  abbre- 
viated or  concentrated  statement  of  the  debates,  which  he 
wrote  out  in  the  evenings  and  submitted  to  the  speakers. 
In  these  discussions  Madison  himself  took  part  more  than 
fifty  times,  and  throughout  he  advocated  a  national  govern- 
ment, well  knit,  strong,  and  empowered  to  carry  out  its  own 
just  authority.  As  a  representative  of  the  largest  and  most 
populous  state  in  the'  Union,  the  members  from  the  small 
states  sometimes  thought  him  unfair;  but  in  a  quiet  and 
sagacious  way  he  often  suggested  a  middle  course,  and  few 
things  against  which  he  argued  were  adopted. 

118.   BLOCKING  OUT  THE  CONSTITUTION  (1787) 

The  Convention  met  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1787,  and  chose 
Washington  t<*  be  its  president.  It  then  settled  to  work  under 
the  "Virginia  Plan."  May  30,  the  Convention  agreed,  as  its 
first  formal  resolution :  "That  a  national  government  ought  to 
be  established,  consisting  of  a  supreme  legislative,  executive, 
and  judiciary."  This  meant  that  the  Convention  did  not  con- 
sider itself  bound  by  its  original  call  simply  to  modify  the  Articles 
of  Confederation. 

Four  other  plans  were  suggested  in  the  course  of  the  Conven- 
tion, but  none  of  them  were  adopted:  (i)  the  Connecticut 
Plan,  which  would  have  given  more  powers  to  Congress,  without 
otherwise  improving  the  Articles  of  Confederation ;  (2)  the 
New  Jersey  Plan,  which  stood  for  the  views  of  the  small  states 
and  would  have  kept  equal  representation  for  the  states  in  Con- 
gress; (3)  Hamilton's  Plan,  a  highly  centralized  scheme  with 


Compromises  of  the  Constitution  185 

a  President  and  a  Senate  chosen  for  life,  and  the  states  shorn  of 
much  of  their  power ;  (4)  Pinckney's  Plan,  the  details  of  which 
are  not  completely  known. 

In  coming  to  a  conclusion,  the  Convention  sensibly  made  use 
of  the  previous  experience  of  the  English  government,  the 
colonies,  the  states,  and  the  Confederation.  For  instance,  they 
gave  the  President  a  limited  veto  power  because  that  system  had 
worked  well  in  Massachusetts.  At  the  same  time  they  discarded 
provisions  that  had  worked  ill,  such  as  the  nine-states  rule,  and 
substituted  methods  which  they  had  seen  working  well  elsewhere. 

119.   COMPROMISES  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  (1787) 

Notwithstanding  the  good  will  and  the  skill  of  the  members • 
of  the  Convention,  they  came  near  breaking  up  on  several  ques- 
tions which  involved  the  rivalry  of  the  geographical  sections 
and  of  the  farming,  business,  and  planting  interests.  These 
difficulties  were  finally  settled  by  three  great  compromises : 

(1)  The  "Connecticut  Compromise"  adjusted  the  question 
of  representation  in  Congress  between  the  small  states  that 
wanted  one  house  with  an  equal  vote,  as  in  the  old  Congress, 
and  the  large  states  that  stood  out  for  two  houses  with  repre- 
sentation in  both  proportional  to  population.     So  obstinate  and 
bitter  were  both  sides  that  Franklin  feared  lest  "our  projects 
will  be  confounded,  and  we  ourselves  shall  become  a  reproach 
and  bye  word  down  to  future  ages."     He  therefore  moved  that 
the  Convention  be  opened  every  day  with  prayer.     A  Connect- 
icut member  threw  out  the  suggestion  that  the  people  ought  to 
be  represented  in  one  branch,  and  the  states  in  the  other ;   and 
this  idea  was  carried  out  (July  16)  by  an  agreement  that  there 
should  be  an  equal  vote  of  states  in  the  Senate  and  a  proportional 
representation  in  the  House. 

(2)  The  second  serious  question  involved  slavery.     Northern 
members  proposed  that  direct  taxes  should  be  apportioned  to  the 
states  in  proportion  to  the  total  population,  both  free  and  slave. 
Southern  members  insisted  that  slaves  ought  not  to  be  counted 


1 86       Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

on  the  same  basis  as  freemen.  The  result  was  a  compromise 
by  a  vote  (July  12)  that,  both  in  distributing  representatives  to 
the  House  and  in  laying  direct  taxes,  slaves  should  be  taken 
into  account  at  three  fifths  of  their  total  number. 

(3)  On  two  questions  of  commerce  there-were  further  differ- 
ences between  North  and  Soufh.  Northern  members  wanted 
power  to  lay  navigation  acts  that  would  give  special  assistance 
to  American  shipping,  though  they  would  probably  raise  the 
freights  on  southern  exports.  But  some  members  from  the  far 
South  were  strongly  opposed  to  the  regulation  of  the  slave  trade 
by  Congress.  A  compromise  was  arranged  (August  25)  which 
left  Congress  free  to  pass  acts  in  aid  of  American  shipping,  but 
withheld  for  twenty  years  the  power  to  prohibit  the  slave  trade. 

Between  May  17,  when  the  Convention  met,  and  September  17, 
when  the  final  form  was  presented  for  signature  by  the  members, 
the  Convention  debated  the  whole  groundwork  of  the  document 
three  different  times,  and  gradually  the  details  were  worked  in. 
At  the  end,  several  delegates  had  gone  home  in  disgust ;  and 
three  members  who  were  present  refused  to  sign  the  completed 
work.  Thirty-nine  of  the  original  fifty-five  members,  however, 
representing  twelve  states,  affixed  their  signatures  to  the  Con- 
stitution. Madison  records  that,  at  this  solemn  moment, 
Franklin  called  the  attention  of  the  members  to  the  sun  painted 
behind  the  president's  chair.  "  I  have,"  said  he, "  often  and  often, 
in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  my  hopes  and 
fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  behind  the  president,  with- 
out being  able  to  tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  setting ;  but  now, 
at  length,  I  have  the  happiness  to  know  that  it  is  a  rising,  and 
not  a  setting  sun." 

120.   SUBSTANCE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  (1787) 

The  document  sent  out  to  the  states  for  ratification  was  not 
a  revision  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  but  a  complete  new 
Constitution  which  has  proved  available  for  the  nation  ever 
since.  (See  Appendix  E.) 


Struggle  over  Ratification  187 

(1)  In  its  form,  it  was  a  great  improvement  because  it  replaced 
the  clumsy  Congress  with  a  government  of  three  distinct  depart- 
ments of  government,  the  Legislative,  the  Executive,  and  the 
Judicial,  on  the  model  of  the  state  governments. 

(2)  The  powers  of  the  federal  government  were  much  enlarged, 
and  included  authority  to  raise  money  by  its  own   taxation 
of  individuals,  power  to  control  the  territory  belonging  to  the 
United  States,  power  to  admit  new  states  into  the  Union,  and 
large  powers  over  foreign  and  interstate  commerce. 

(3)  Sufficient  means  of  enforcing  its  powers  were  at  last  be- 
stowed on  the  federal  government :    through  the  federal  courts, 
it  could  punish  those  who  disobeyed  the  national  laws,  and 
the  states  could  be  kept  in.  their  orbits  by  decisions  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court. 

(4)  The  division  of  powers  between  the  states  and  the  Union 
was  made  definite,  and  the  states  once  for  all  gave  up  their  former 
control  over  foreign  commerce,  paper  money,  and  many  other 
subjects.     By  the  clause  authorizing  the  United  States  to  con- 
trol "commerce  between  the  states,"  power  was  given  which  a 
century  later  resulted  in  control  of  railroads  and  interstate  cor- 
porations by  the  federal  government. 

,   121.   STRUGGLE  OVER  RATIFICATION  (1787-1788) 

The  Convention  wisely  provided  that  the  Constitution  was  to 
go  into  effect  as  soon  as  nine  state  conventions  should  have 
ratified  it,  thus  avoiding  the  fatal  requirement  of  unanimous 
consent  which  had  prevented  the  amendment  of  the  Articles 
of  Confederation.  The  friends  of  the  new  Constitution  gave 
themselves  the  name  of  "Federalists,"  to  indicate  that  the 
system  which  they  favored  was  not  centralized  but  federal, 
and  preserved  the  proper  rights  of  the  states.  Their  opponents 
could  think  of  no  better  title  than  "Anti-Federalists." 

Both  sides  issued  pamphlets  and  published  elaborate  letters 
in  the  newspapers.  The  most  famous  of  these  arguments 
was  a  series  of  essays  skillfully  defending  the  Constitution, 


1 88       Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

written  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  James  Madison,  and  John  Jay, 
which  appeared  for  many  weeks  in  succession  in  New  York  news- 
papers over  the  name  Federalist.  To  this  day  the  Federalist 
remains  one  of  the 'wisest  and  best  discussions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. 

All  the  states  except  Rhode  Island  called  the  necessary  state 
conventions,  and  the  fight  over  the  Constitution  raged  from  end 
to  end  of  the  land.  The  Anti-Federalists  predicted  that  Con- 
gress would  overawe  the  states,  that  the  President  would  prove 
a  despot,  and  that  the  courts  would  destroy  liberty,  while  the 
Senate  would  be  a  stronghold  of  aristocracy.  In  one  state 
convention  a  member  objected  that  "if  there  be  no  religious 
test  required,  pagans,  deists,  and  Mohametans  might  obtain 
offices  among  us,  and  that  the  senators  and  representatives 
might  be  pagans."  "The  point  most  criticized  was  the  lack  of 
a  bill  of  rights,  such  as  was  found  in  all  the  state  constitutions. 

In  fivte  states,  however,  the  Federalists  had  an  easy  task : 
Delaware  was  first  to  ratify  (December  7,  1787),  and  that  by  a 
unanimous  vote ;  the  great  influence  of  Pennsylvania  was  thrown 
into  the  same  scale  (December  12)  by  a  vote  of  46  to  23  ;  next 
came  unanimous  ratification  by  New  Jersey  (December  18),  and 
by  Georgia  (January  2, 1788) ;  Connecticut  followed,  after  a  hot 
discussion,  by  a  vote  of  128  to  40  (January  9). 

The  first  dangerous  contest  was  in  Massachusetts,  where  the 
majority  of  the  delegates  elected  were  against  the  Constitution, 
for  reasons  well  stated  by  a  country  member :  "These  lawyers, 
and  men  of  learning  and  moneyed  men  that  talk  so  finely,  and 
gloss  over  matters  so  smoothly,  and  make  us  poor  illiterate 
people  swallow  down  the  pill,  expect  to  get  into  Congress  them- 
selves ;  they  expect  to  be  the  managers  of  this  Constitution,  and 
get  all  the  power  and  all  the  money  into  their  own  hands,  and 
then  they  will  swallow  up  all  us  little  folks,  like  the  great  Levia- 
than, Mr.  President  —  yes,  just  as  the  whale  swallowed  up 
Jonah.  That  is  what  I  am  afraid  of."  The  balance  of  power 
in  the  convention  was  held  by  its  president,  John  Hancock,  who 


Struggle  over  Ratification  189 

was  kept  away  at  first  by  a  convenient  attack  of  the  celebrated 
"Hancock  gout."  He  had  to  be  secured  by  promising  him  the 
governorship  and  hinting  at  the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 
As  a  last  resort,  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  agreed  that 
certain  amendments  be  added,  not  as  a  condition  of  ratification, 
but  as  a  strong  suggestion.  With  all  these  influences,  on  the  test 
vote  (February  6,  1788),  Massachusetts  ratified  by  only  187 
votes  to  1 68. 

The  contest  in  Massachusetts  was  the  crisis  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, for  the  result  greatly  influenced  other  states.  Maryland 
ratified  by  a  vote  of  63  to  n  (April  28) ;  South  Carolina  ratified 

The  Ninth  PILLAR  erected  ! 

"The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  fhall  be  fuBitient  forthetftalilifti- 

ment  of  this  Conftitution,  between  the  States  fo  ratifying  the  fame."  Art.  va. 

INCIPIENT  MJGNI  PROCEDEEE  MENSES. 


ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION,  1788.     (From  the 
Independent  Chronicle.) 

by  a  vote  of  149  to  73  (May  23) ;  and  New  Hampshire,  by  a  vote 
of  57  to  46,  made  herself  the  ninth  state  and  completed  "  the 
federal  arch"  (June  21). 

The  Virginia  convention  supposed  that  their  state  would  be 
necessary  to  make  nine.  Madison  was  strongly  for  the  Con- 
stitution, and  Washington  threw  all  his  mighty  influence  in 
its  favor.  The  strongest  opponent  was  Patrick  Henry,  who  did 
not  shine  as  a  logician.  When  taxes  came  to  be  discussed,  he 
exclaimed:  "I  never  will  give  up  that  darling  word  'requisi- 
tion ' :  my  country  may  give  it  up ;  a  majority  may  wrest  it  from 
me,  but  I  will  nevar  give  it  up  till  my  grave."  After  the  greatest 
exertions,  Madison  succeeded  in  having  the  long  list  of  pro- 
posed amendments  made  a  "recommendation"  and  not  a  con- 


1 90      Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

dition  of  ratification ;  and  the  Constitution  was  ratified  by  the 
narrow  vote  of  89  to  79  (June  25,  1788).  » 

The  New  York  convention  was  at  first  hostile  to  the  Consti- 
tution, and  Governor  George  Clinton,  the  political  chief  of  the 
state,  appeared  in  the  convention  to  oppose  it.  Its  successful 
champion  was  Alexander  Hamilton.  Again  the  plan  of  a  con- 
ditional ratification  was  proposed,  but  finally  by  the  close  vote 
of  30  to  27  New  York  ratified  (July  26,  1788),  "in  full  con- 
fidence" that  certain  changes  would  be  made  after  the  new  gov- 
ernment should  be  organized. 

For  some  time  two  states  still  held  off.  The  North  Caro- 
lina convention  adjourned  without  taking  a  vote,  but  a  second 
convention  was  called  which  duly  ratified  the  Constitution 
(November  21,  1789).  Rhode  Island  at  this  time  called  no  con- 
vention, but  was  brought  to  terms  later,  when  Congress  pro- 
posed to  treat  it  as  a  foreign  nation;  and  she  completed  the 
roll  of  thirteen  ratifying  states  (May  29,  1790). 

122.  REVIEW 

From  1781  to  1788  the  affairs  of  the  Union  were  carried  on 
by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation,  acting  under  the  Articles 
of  Confederation.  This  government  obtained  a  favorable  treaty 
of  peace  from  Great  Britain,  which  acknowledged  the  independ- 
ence of  the  United  States,  and  accepted  as  boundaries  the  Missis- 
sippi on  the  west,  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  north,  and  the  parallel 
of  31°  on  the  south. 

Congress  was  distressed  over  national  finances,  unable  to  pay 
off  any  part  of  the  national  debt  or  to  keep  up  the  interest.  It 
could  not  obtain  the  much  desired  treaties  of  commerce  with 
Spain  and  Great  Britain,  because  the  states  would  not  agree 
to  national  control  of  foreign  commerce.  Though  the  country 
was  growing  in  population  and  wealth  it  felt  poor,  and  some  of 
the  states  passed  trick  laws  for  the  relief  of  debtors.  Several 
revolutionary  movements  alarmed  the  country,  especially  the 
Shays  Rebellion  of  Massachusetts.  The  beginning  of  a  future 


References  '191 

division  was  seen  when  the  northern  states  began  to  emancipate 
the  slaves,  thus  creating  two  groups  of  states  in  the  Union. 

During  this  period,  most  of  the  states  which  claimed  western 
lands  ceded  to  the  federal  government  all  or  a  great  part  of  their 
claims.  Congress  provided  for  surveying  the  West  into  mile- 
square  blocks,  and  began  to  sell  land  to  companies.  The  people 
of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  set  up  short-lived  governments  of 
their  own.  Congress  created  the  first  territorial  government, 
by  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787. 

Congress  was  a  badly  organized,  weak  body,  and  could  not  se- 
cure amendments  from  the  states  to  enlarge  its  powers,  because 
the  unanimous  vote  of  all  thirteen  was  necessary.  Hence  a 
Constitutional  Convention  was  called  by  Congress  (1786). 

In  that  Convention,  which  sat  in  1787,  a  new  document  was 
drawn  up,  which  sought  by  judicious  compromises  to  secure 
the  support  of  most  of  the  country.  With  great  difficulty  it 
was  ratified  by  nine  states,  which  were  enough  to  put  it  in 
motion.  The  other  four  states  soon  ratified  the  Constitution 
and  thus  completed  the  "  more  perfect  Union." 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  164, 176,  179.  —  Avery,  U.S., 
VI.  —  Becker,  Beginnings,  272.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  32,  145.  — 
Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  129,  159,  161,  163.  —  Epoch  Maps,  no.  vi. — . 
Fish,  Am.  Dipl.,  47,  70;  Am.  Nationality,  23,  486.  — Johnson,  Union 
and  Democracy,  i,  9,  37,  39,  42.  —  McLaughlin,  Confederation  and 
Constitution.  —  Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  196. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  214-216,  222-254.  —  Channing,  U.S., 
III.  chs.  xii,  xv-xvii.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.  (rev.  ed.),  106-131. — 
Farrand,  Framing  of  the  Constitution.  —  Fish,  Am.  Dipl.,  chs.  v-vii.  — 
Fiske,  Critical  Period.  —  Foster,  Century  of  Dipl.,  ch.  ii.  —  Hunt, 
James  Madison,  chs.  vi-xvi.  —  Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  chs. 
i,  ii.  —  Lodge,  George  Washington,  I.  ch.  xi,  II.  ch.  i ;  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, ch.  iv.  —  McLaughlin,  Confederation  and  Constitution.  —  Mc- 
Master,  U.S.,  I.  103-423,  436-524,  III.  89-116.  —  Morse,  John 
Adams,  ch.  ix;  Benjamin  Franklin,  chs.  xiv,  xv ;  Thomas  Jefferson, 
chs.  vi,  viii.  —  Phillips,  West  in  Dipl.  of  the  Rev.  —  Roosevelt,  Winning 
of  the  West,  III.  —  Sparks,  Expansion,  chs.  vii-xi.  —  Treat,  Land  Sys- 


192  •     Confederation  and  Federal  Constitution 

tern,  chs.  i,  ii.  —  Tyler,  Patrick  Henry,  chs.  xvii-xix.  —  Walker,  Making 
of  the  Nation,  1-62.  —  Winsor,  Westward  Movement,  225-374. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  8,  22,  28,  32.  —  Beard,  Readings, 
§§  14-21.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  179,  185-200.  — Callen- 
der,  Econ.  Hist.,  183-235.  —  Farrand,  Records  of  the  Federal  Convention.  — 
Harding,  Select  Orations,  nos.  6-9.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  II.  §§  215- 
220,  III.  37-75  ;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  II.  172-176,  191-361  passim.  — 
Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  chs.  xvi,  xvii.  — Johnson,  Readings,  §§  18-21,  26- 
39.  —  Munro,  Selections  from  the  Federalist.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  nos. 
i,  12,  13,  15,  16,  40,  70,  99,  127,  186,  197. 

Illustrative.  Atherton,  The  Conqueror  (Hamilton).  —  Bellamy, 
Duke  of  Stockbridge  (Shays's  Rebellion).  —  Bird,  Nick  of  the  Woods 
(Ky.).  —  Gray,  Kentucky  Chronicle.  —  Hopkinson,  Essays. 

Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  VI.  — Mentor,  serial  no.  75.  —  Sparks,  Ex- 
pansion. —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Service  under  the  Confederation  of:  Robert  R.  Livingston;  or 
Robert  Morris;  or  Henry  Knox.  [§107] — -(2)  Service  in  foreign 
countries  of:  John  Adams;  or  John  Jay;  or  Henry  Laurens.  [§  108]  — 
(3)  Depreciation  of  Revolutionary  paper  money.  [§  109]  —  (4)  The 
Shays  Rebellion.  [§in]  —  (5)  The  state  of  Franklin.  [§  114]  — 
(6)  First  western  settlement  by  the  Ohio  Company.  [§  115]  —  (7)  How 
was  the  Northwest  Ordinance  secured?  [§  115]  —  (8)  Washington's 
opinions  of  the  Confederation.  [§  116]  —  (9)  Services  in  the  Federal 
Convention  of  one  of  the  following  statesmen:  Hamilton;  Paterson; 
Wilson;  Randolph;  Madison;  Johnson;  Sherman.  [§  117]  — 
(10)  Members  of  the  Convention  who  did  not  sign  the  Constitution. 
[§  119]  —  (n)  Ratification  of  the  Constitution  in  one  of  the  thirteen 
original  states.  [§  121] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(12)  Were  the  envoys  justified  in  breaking  their  instructions  in  1782? 
[§  108]  —  (13)  Facts  about  the  British  carrying  off  negro  slaves.  [§  no] 
(14)  Effect  of  the  "  Stay  and  Tender  "  laws.  [§  in]  —  (15)  Why  did 
the  northern  states  prohibit  slavery?  f§  112]  —  (16)  Why  did  the  seven 
states  give  up  their  western  claims?  [§  113]  —  (17)  Reason  for  the 
failure  of  one  of  the  following  Constitutional.  Amendments :  Five  Per 
Cent;  Revenue;' Commerce.  [§  116]  —  (18)  Defenders  of  small  states, 
or  of  slavery,  or  of  the  slave  trade,  in  the  Convention.  [§  119] 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  ORIGINAL  PEOPLE  OF  THE  FEDERAL  UNION  (1780-1800) 
123.  THE  POPULATION 

WHAT  were  the  numbers,  characteristics,  and  capacities  of 
the  people  who  made  and  adopted  the  federal  Constitution? 
The  census  of  1790  showed  a  total  population  of  3,930,000,  not 
including  about  80,000  Indians.  Of  these,  60,000  were  free 
negroes  and  700,000  more  were  slaves.  In  the  remaining 
3,170,000  persons  the  English  race  was  predominant  in  all  of  the 
states.  There  were  perhaps  300,000  Scotch-Irish,  chiefly  along 

the     frontier;     a    j       rr__i 

small  but  persist- 
ent Dutch  element 
in  New  York;  over 
175,000  Germans, 
mostly  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  the 
West ;  and  a  small 
Huguenot  element 
in  South  Carolina. 
Over  nine  tenths 
of  the  people  lived 


SETTLED  AREA  IN  1790. 


in  the  country.  In  1790  the  only  places  having  a  population 
greater  than  8000  were  Philadelphia,  with  about  42,000  people 
(including  suburbs) ;  the  city  of  New  York,  with  33,000 ; 
Boston,  with  18,000;  Charleston,  with  16,000;  and  Baltimore, 
with  14,000.  Only  about  one  twentieth  of  the  whole  population 
lived  west  of  the  crest  of  the  Appalachians;  and  Louisville 
was  the  farthest  town  on  the  Ohio  River. 
HART'S  NKW  AMKK.  HIST.  —  13  193 


194     The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 


124.   FARMING 

Nearly  all  the  white  men  in  America  worked  on  farms  at  least 
part  of  the  year,  and  most  of  them  on  their  own  farms,  and  their 
life  was  much  like  that  of  the  colonists  (§  72).  Northern  farm- 
ers raised  vegetables  for  their  own  use,  hay  for  their  stock, 
corn  and  other  grain,  in  some  places  hemp  and  flax,  and  salted 

down  pork  and  beef. 
The  most  valuable  crop 
was  wheat,  cultivated 
from  New  England  to 
Virginia,  and  forming 
the  basis  of  a  large 
export  of  grain  and 
flour.  In  Maryland 
and  Virginia  tobacco 
was  still  abundant, 
while  South  Carolina 
raised  rice  and  still  a 
little  indigo. 

For  an  example  of 
prosperity,  take  a 
French  traveler's  ac- 
count of  a  Quaker 
family  living  near  Phil- 
adelphia. The  three  daughters,  beautiful,  easy  in  their  manners, 
and  modest  in  their  deportment,  helped  the  mother  in  the 
household.  The  father  was  constantly  in  the  fields,  where  he 
grew  wheat  and  other  crops.  He  had  an  excellent  garden  and 
orchard,  ten  horses,  a  big  corn  house,  a  barn  full  of  wheat,  oats, 
and  other  grain,  a  dairy,  in  which  the  family  made  excellent 
cheese.  "Their  sheep  give  them  wool  of  which  the  cloth  is 
made  that  covers  the  father  and  the  children.  This  cloth  is 
spun  in  the  house,  wove  and  fulled  in  the  neighborhood.  All 
the  linen  is  made  in  the  house." 


WALL  PAPER  USED  IN  T:IE  PERRY  HOUSE, 
KEENE,  N.  H. 


Trade  and  Business  195 

125.  FREE  LABOR  AND  SLAVERY 

The  farmers  for  the  most  part  had  large  families  and  hence 
did  not  need  to  hire  much  labor.  There  was  a  good  demand 
for  handicraftsmen,  such  as  shoemakers,  harness  makers,  and 
tailors.  Their  wages  were  in  purchasing  value  only  about  half 
what  wages  are  to-day,  but  every  wage  earner  who  had  the 
ambition  and  enterprise  and  industry  could  strike  out  for  him- 
self, by  taking  up  land  and  starting  a  farm. 

Much  of  the  hard  labor  was  done  by  slaves  (§  75).  They  were 
commonly  treated  with  kindness,  but  there  were  instances 
everywhere  of  cruel  treatment.  In  Georgia  and  South  Caro- 
lina,—  where  in  1790,  out  of  330,000  people.  136,000  were 
negro  slaves,  —  much  of  the  labor  was  exceptionallv  hard.  In 
all  the  South  the  cotton  crop  was  small  and  of  little  value, 
because  it  took  so  much  labor  to  clear  the  seed  out  of  the  fiber. 
In  1794  Eli  Whitney,  a  Yankee  schoolmaster  living  in  Georgia, 
invented  the  cotton  gin,  a  simple  machine  which  could  do  the 
work  of  scores  of  men.  This  made  cotton  cultivation  very 
profitable  and  the  production  of  cotton  rose  from  a  few  hun- 
dred bales  in  1790  to  600,000  bales  in  1820;  and  the  growing 
of  this  crop  led  to  an  increased  demand  for  slave  labor. 

Manufactures,  except  shipbuilding,  were  not  much  devel- 
oped in  America  in  1800.  A  little  iron  and  some  steel  were 
made,  all  of  it  with  charcoal.  Carpet  weaving  and  broom 
making  had  sprung  up,  and  Philadelphia  exported  from 
200,000  to  350,000  barrels  of  flour  every  year;  this  industry 
was  aided  by  Oliver  Evans's  invention  of  the  endless  band 
elevator,  to  carry  grain  and  flour  from  floor  to  floor.  In  such 
manufactures  nearly  all  the  workmen  were  free  laborers. 

126.  TRADE  AND  BUSINESS 

The  shipping  trade  again  became  prosperous  after  the  war, 
and  new  avenues  of  commerce  were  opened.  In  1784  the 
ship  Empress  of  China  made  the  first  voyage  from  the 


196    The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

United  States  to  China,  and  brought  home  as  part  of  her 
freight  300,000  silver  dollars.  A  profitable  trade  ensued  with 
China,  India,  and  the  east  coast  of  Africa.  About  7000  men 
were  engaged  in  the  cod  fishery,  and  several  thousand  in  the 
whale  fishery.  The  near-by  fur  trade  fell  off  as  settlers  pushed 
westward,  but  John  Jacob  Astor,  a  New  York  merchant,  made 
what  was  then  considered  the  enormous  fortune  of  over  a  mil- 
lion dollars,  by  developing  the  business  in  the  far  Northwest. 

As  an  example  of  the  rich  and  influential  class  of  American 
merchants,  let  us  take  John  Hancock  of  Boston  (§§  76, 121).  He 
bought  ships,  sold  ships,  and  chartered  ships  to  carry  his  cargoes. 
He  bought  and  sold  country  produce,  and  exported  fish,  whale 
oil  and  whalebone,  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  naval  stores  (pitch, 
tar,  and  turpentine),  lumber,  masts,  and  ship  timber.  He  im- 
ported dress  goods  for  men  and  women,  manufactures  of  all 
kinds,  and  coal.  The  Hancock  firm  also  did  a  banking  busi- 
ness, lent  money,  held  mortgages  and  placed  them  for  friends, 
and  issued  drafts  upon  their  London  correspondents. 

In  contrast  with  the  great  merchant  was  the  country  store- 
keeper, with  his  shelves  of  hardware,  cotton  goods,  and  a  few 
groceries,  with  plenty  of  hard  liquors. 

127.   ROADS  AND  WATERWAYS 

Interior  commerce  was  hampered  by  a  lack  of  roads  and  water- 
ways ;  but  there  was  a  lively  coasting  trade  along  the  Atlantic. 

Tolerable  wagon  roads  were  built  about  1790  from  Phila- 
delphia, through  Bedford  in  southern'  Pennsylvania,  to  Pitts- 
burgh ;  and  later  from  Cumberland  on  the  upper  Potomac  to  the 
Monongahela  River.  The  so-called  Wilderness  Road,  marked 
out  by  Daniel  Boone,  the  only  direct  overland  route  into  Ken- 
tucky, was  widened  into  a  wagon  track  (1795)  and  served  as 
the  principal  highway  into  the  Southwest  (map,  page  268). 

About  this  time,  a  new  method  of  road  making  was  introduced 
from  England  :  a  layer  of  large  stones,  a  foot  or  more  in  depth, 
was  first  put  down,  and  on  it  was  laid  a  crowning  of  small, 


Roads  and  Waterways  197 

angular  stones.  Under  travel  these  consolidated,  making  a 
smooth,  hard  surface.  Many  such  roads,  called  "turnpikes'* 
or  "stone  pikes,"  were  built  in  America  by  individuals  or 
corporations,  beginning  with  a  stretch  from  Philadelphia  to 
Lancaster  (1792) ;  and  large  streams  were  bridged.  On  such 
roads  and  bridges  the  owners  charged  toll. 


CROSS  SECTION  OF  A  TURNPIKE  ON  A  SIDE  HILL. 


'  '       :      /   ,'" 

CROSS  SECTION  OF  A  TURNPIKE.     (Showing  arrangement  of 
layers  of  stone.) 

The  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  period  of 
canal  building  in  England,  and  the  system  spread  to  America. 
After  the  Revolution  Washington  visited  the  upper  Potomac  and 
Mohawk  valleys,  and  suggested  building  canals  to  the  West  by 
both  routes.  The  governments  of  Maryland  and  Virginia 
thereupon  united  in  a  plan  for  improving  the  navigation  of  the 
Potomac.  A  little  later  a  traveler  named  Elkanah  Watson 
formed  "the  sublime  plan  of  opening  an  uninterrupted  water 
communication  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Ontario."  A  few 
canals  were  actually  built,  or  begun,  in  the  decade  from  1793 
to  1803,  notably  the  San  tee  in  South  Carolina,  the  Dismal 
Swamp  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  the  Middlesex 
from  Boston  to  Lowell. 


198    The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

128.   INVENTIONS  AND  MACHINERY 

To  carry  on  the  new  enterprises,  there  was  a  rapid  develop- 
ment of  joint  stock  companies  after  1790.  Insurance,  bridge, 
and  turnpike  companies,  manufacturing  concerns,  and  especially 
banks  were  chartered  by  the  state  legislatures.  All  of  these 
companies  had  special  charters  and  the  legislatures  were  beset 
by  demands  to  grant  privileges  to  new  corporations. 

We  are  now  accustomed  to  rely,  for  manufactures  on  a  large 
scale,  on  steam  power  and  machinery,  which  have  taken  the 


MACHINERY  IN  SAMUEL  SLATER'S  MILL. 

place  of  the  old  hand  labor.  It  is  hard  to  realize  now  that,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  only  motive  force 
for  erecting  buildings,  for  making  iron  or  cloth,  for  all  the 
farm  work  and  transportation,  was  the  muscles  of  men  and 
animals,  except  wind,  water  power,  or  the  tide,  by  which  a 
few  mills  were  run.  In  1800  there  was  hardly  a  steam  engine 
in  America,  and  not  a  power  loom. 


Spirit  of  Humanity  199 

The  making  of  woolen  and  cotton  cloth  was  aided  about  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  by  four  English  inventions :  Hargreaves's 
"spinning  jenny"  (1767);  Arkwright's  spinning  frame  (1769); 
Crompton's  mule  spinner  (1779);  and  Cartwright's  power 
loom  (1785).  The  first  spinning  machinery  in  the  United 
States  was  made  by  Samuel  Slater  of  Pawtucket,  Rhode 
Island,  in  1790,  and  that  started  the  woolen,  cotton,  and  hemp 
mills  of  the  United  States.  The  first  power  loom  here  was  set 
up  by  F.  C.  Lowell  at  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  in  1813. 

Several  other  important  inventions  can  be  traced  back  to 
this  period,  such  as  Oliver  Evans's  power  dredge,  and  Jacob 
Perkins's  nail-making  machine.  The  renowned  Yankee  indus- 
try of  clock  making  on  a  large  scale  was  also  begun  by  Eli 
Terry  at  Plymouth,  Connecticut.  The  use  of  steam  for  pro- 
pelling ships  was  suggested  by  two  American  inventors.  John 
Fitch  put  a  boat  on  the  Delaware  propelled  by  a  steam  engine 
at  a  speed  of  seven  miles  an  hour  (1786),  and  James  Rumsey 
ran  a  steam  craft  of  another  type  on  the  Potomac  River  (1787). 
Washington  predicted  that  RumseyV  invention  would  solve 
the  problem  of  water  transportation. 

129.   SPIRIT  or  HUMANITY 

Another  proof  that  America  was  changing  was  a  new 
spirit  of  humanity  and  sympathy.  Throughout  the  world 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  the  family,  the  school,  the 
shop,  and  especially  the  jail,  abounded  in  cruelty.  The  con- 
stable beat  the  vagrant,  the  master  workman  beat  the  appren- 
tice, the  farmer  beat  the  indentured  servant  or  maid,  the 
planter  beat  the  slave.  The  insane  man  or  woman  was  treated 
literally  as  a  beast  —  chained,  starved,  and  flogged.  The 
criminal  or  the  man  charged  with  crime  was  brutalized  in  a 
poisonous  and  stifling  jail,  a  school  of  criminals.  Americans 
who  won  the  battles  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  sailors  in 
John  Paul  Jones's  ships,  were  often  half  starved  and  were 
beaten  by  their  own  officers.  Debtors  might  in  any  state  in  the 


2oo    The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

Union  be  lodged  in  jail  and  kept  there  the  best  of  their  lives  for 
a  petty  debt. 

Such  oppression  and  disregard  of  one's  neighbor  were  not 
only  contrary  to  Christianity,  but  were  also  opposed  to  the 
great  Revolutionary  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  man,  set  forth 
in  the  bills  of  rights  of  every  state  constitution.  Equality  was 
so  well  carried  out  that  foreign  travelers  were  amazed  to  see 
innkeepers  sit  down  with  their  guests,  and  to  hear  that  mili- 
tary officers  were  chosen  by  their  men.  Gradually  benevolent 
societies  began  to  spring  up  in  aid  of  the  weak  and  helpless,  and 
a  new  sense  arose  of  the  duty  of  the  community  to  all  its  people. 
Moreover,  this  feeling  of  sympathy  and  responsibility  began  to 
extend  to  the  slaves.  Hence  Thomas  Jefferson,  born  and  bred 
a  slaveholder,  wrote  in  1781 :  "Can  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be 
thought  secure  when  we  have  removed  their  only  firm  basis,  a 
conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  these  liberties  are  of 
the  gift  of  God?  That  they  are  not  to  be  violated  but  with 
his  wrath?  Indeed  I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect 
that  God  is  just ;  that  his  justice  cannot  sleep  forever." 

130.   DEMOCRATIC  SPIRIT 

Notwithstanding  the  bold  assertion  that  the  people  had  the 
"right  to  govern  themselves,"  the  United  States  from  1780  to 
1800  was  far  from  being  a  thoroughgoing  democracy.  In  the 
New  England  states,  the  ministers  and  the  merchants  were 
still  practically  an  aristocracy,  holding,  as  John  Adams  put  it, 
that  "  the  rich  and  the  well-born  and  the  able  must  be  separated 
from  the  mass  and  placed  by  themselves."  Even  the  little 
New  England  town  meetings  were  not  free  from  the  mastery 
of  the  local  squire.  A  satirist  poked  fun  at  them  as  follows : 

"  Yet  at  town  meetings  ev'ry  chief 
Pinn'd  faith  on  great  M'Fingal's  sleeve, 
And  as  he  motion 'd,  all  by  rote 
Rais'd  sympathetic  hands  to  vote." 

Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Virginia  farmers  were  not 


School  Life  and  Colleges  201 

influenced  so  much  by  great  family  names  as  by  political  organ- 
izations. The  first  state  nominating  convention  was  held  in 
Pennsylvania  in  1788.  Two  years  later  Senator  Maclay  ob- 
served that  in  New  York,  "The  Sons  of  St.  Tammany  had 
a  grand  parade  through  the  town  in  Indian  dresses.  .  .  .  There 
seems  to  be  some  kind  of  scheme  laid  of  erecting  some  kind  of 
order  or  society  under  this  denomination."  Within  ten  years, 
the  Tammany  Society  did  develop  into  a  political  force.  How- 
ever, the  organization  of  the  New  York  voters  remained  in  the 
hands  of  two  rival  clans,  the  friends  of  the  Livingstons  and 
the  friends  of  the  Clintons,  who  early  developed  the  practice, 
whenever  they  got  into  power,  of  turning  their  political  oppo- 
nents out  of  office. 

131.  SCHOOL  LIFE  AND  COLLEGES 

After  the  Revolution  the  opportunities  for  education  rapidly 
increased  in  the  United  States  (§  51).  New  England  kept  up 
rural  schools  in  hundreds  of  "district  schoolhouses,"  which 
received  both  boys  and  girls  as  young  as  two  years  old.  The 
teachers  were  slenderly  paid,  and  were  "boarded  round"  from 
family  to  family  in  the  district.  Similar  public  common 
schools  were  organized  in  the  Northwest.  Neither  the  middle 
states  nor  the  South  set  up  common  schools  till  much  later. 
Most  of  the  towns  in  the  Union  had  schools,  usually  sup- 
ported by  fees.  In  attending  such  a  'school  in  Philadelphia, 
Alexander  Graydon  read  Latin  fables,  learned  Roman  history, 
fought  the  other  boys,  was  flogged  by  his  teacher,  and  when 
fourteen  years  old  had  read  Ovid,  Vergil,  Caesar,  and  Sallust, 
and  was  reading  Horace  and  Cicero. 

For  secondary  education  New  England  developed  a  system 
of  endowed  academies  which  spread  into  the  middle  states  and 
West.  Among  them  were  the  two  Phillips  Academies  of 
Andover  and  Exeter,  and  the  Lexington  (Kentucky)  Gram- 
mar School.  Such  a  thing  as  a  public  high  school  existed  only 
in  a  few  favored  New  England  towns ;  but  wealthy  families 


2O2     The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

throughout  the  Union 
often  had  private  tutors 
for  their  children.  Sev- 
eral new  colleges  also 
were  founded  :  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania 
was  reorganized  and  put 
on  a  collegiate  basis 
(1799);  and  in  1795 
was  established  the  germ 
of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  the  first 
state  institution  of  the 
kind.  The  first  profes- 
sional schools  in  the 
United  States  were  two 
medical  schools  founded 
in  Philadelphia  and 
Boston. 


SAMPLER  EMBROIDERED  BY  A  LITTLE  GIRL 


The  formal  education  of  girls  stopped  in  what  we  should 
call  the  grammar  grade ;  but  the  daughters  of  well-to-do 
families  embroidered,  tapped  the  harpsichord,  and  read  good 
books ;  and  there  were  some  girls'  boarding  schools. 

132.  LITERATURE  AND  ART 

The  United  States  still  had  no  genuinely  national  literature, 
for  most  of  the  authors  followed  English  models  and  were  very 
dull.  The  most  admired  American  poets  were  Philip  Freneau, 
who  wrote  stirring  patriotic  songs  during  the  Revolution,  and 
Joel  Barlow,  whose  epic,  The  Vision  of  Columbus,  is  a  weak 
imitation  of  Pope's  Homer's  Iliad.  The  only  satirist  and 
essayist  of  the  time  who  is  now  much,  read  was  Benjamin 
Franklin,  decidedly  the  most  distinguished  American  author  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

The  one    field  of  literature  in   which   Americans  excelled 


Literature  and  Art 


203 


was  in  the  writings  of  public  men,  who  furnished  a  new  stock  of 
political  ideas  to  the  world.  Some  of  these  books  are  descrip- 
tive, like  Jefferson's  famous  Notes  on  Virginia;  others  are  discus- 
sions of  public  ques- 
tions, like  the  Federal- 
ist, and  Alexander 
Hamilton's  financial 
reports.  George 
Washington  wrote 
admirable  letters  on 
public  questions. 

The  fondness  of 
Americans  for  news- 
papers and  periodi- 
cals showed  itself  in 
the  first  daily  news- 
paper, the  Pennsyl- 
vania Packet,  founded 
in  1784.  The  news- 
papers were  dull ;  they 
had  no  editorials,  few 
advertisements,  and 
filled  many  columns 
with  reprints  from 
foreign  newspapers, 
and  with  long-winded 
essays  on  politics. 
Two  literary  magazines  were  founded  about  this  time :  the 
Universal  Asylum  and  Columbian  Magazine,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  Boston  Magazine. 

Some  notable  artists  appeared  in  this  period  —  especially 
Benjamin  West,  who  went  to  England  and  was  very  successful 
there ;  and  the  portrait  artists  Copley,  Gilbert  Stuart,  and 
Trumbull,  to  whom  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  the  appearance 
of  many  of  the  great  men  of  the  time. 


ST.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,  CHARLESTON,  BUILT 
IN  1761.     (Type  of  massive  stone  church.) 


2O4     The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

The  most  notable  American  art  was  the  architecture  of  the 
best  houses  and  public  buildings.  Such  residences  as  the 
Chew  House  in  Germantown  (p.  117)  and  the  Harrison  house 
in  Virginia,  are  among  the  best  examples  of  American  archi- 
tecture. All  over  the  eastern  states  are  still  to  be  seen  good 
courthouses  and  other  public  buildings  and  a  few  good  church 
buildings  of  the  time :  for  example,  the  Old  South  Church  in 
Boston,  Trinity  Church  and  St.  Paul's  in  New  York,  and  St. 
Michael's  in  Charleston  (p.  203). 

133.   RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCHES 

The  churches  and  other  religious  bodies  were  still,  as  in 
colonial  times  (§  54),  the  greatest  moral  and  intellectual  interest 

of    the    times.     After 
the  Revolution,  most 
of  the  great  churches 
in  America  sought  to 
organize  in  a  national 
way   so   as   to   fit   in 
with  the  national  life. 
(i)  As  a  logical  re- 
sult of   their   theories 
of  republican  govern- 
SQUARE-PEWED  CHURCH,  SALISBURY,  MASS.,    ment,     the     southern 
BUILT  IN  1791.     (Type  of  eighteenth-century    states   withdrew   their 
meetinghouse.)  ,  ,.  ,     , 

public  support  of  the 

Episcopal  Church  (§  54).  In  1784  Samuel  Seabury  was 
consecrated  as  Bishop  of  Connecticut  at  Aberdeen,  Scotland ; 
he  came  over,  and  in  1785  was  held  the  first  general  conven- 
tion of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 
(2)  The  Methodist  Church,  founded  by  Wesley  and  White- 
field  (§  56),  began  its  American  organization  in  1784,  when  the 
Methodists  summoned  a  national  conference,  which  adopted 
the  title  of  Methodist  Episcopal  and  gave  to  Francis  Asbury 
and  Thomas  Coke  the  title  of  Superintendent,  later  Bishop. 


Religion  and  the  Churches  205 

(3)  The  long  prejudice  against  the  Catholics  softened,  and 
several  states  put  them  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Protes- 
tants'.    In    1789    one   of    the    Maryland    Carrolls    was    made 
Catholic  bishop  of  Baltimore  and  thus  that  church  was  formally 
organized  in  the  United  States. 

(4)  Another  type  of  church  government  was  established  when 
in  1789  the  Presbyterian  local  synods  united  in  "the  General 


809.     (From  Kendall's  Travels.) 


Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,"  which  has  ever  since  been  the  supreme  governing 
body  of  that  church.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  though  closely  akin  to  the  Presbyterian 
in  doctrine,  kept  its  separate  synod. 

(5)  The  thousand  Congregational  churches  in  New  England 
were  nearly  all  supported  by  taxation,  and  each  was  its  own 
highest  tribunal ;  for  there  was  no  general  convention. 

(6)  The  Quakers  also  practiced  local  self-government ;    and 


2o6     The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

both  Quakers  and  Methodists  freely  admitted  women  to  take 
part  in  their  service. 

Among  the  many  other  Protestant  denominations  were  the 
German  Lutherans,  the  Moravians  or  United  Brethren,  and 
Dunkards ;  and  the  Mennonites,  none  of  whom  would  take  an 
oath,  or  fight,  or  accept  office,  or  go  to  law.  The  Universalists 
had  a  few  congregations.  The  curious  communities  known  as 
the  Shakers  were  founded  during  the  Revolution  by  Anna 
Lee,  whom  her  followers  called  the  Elect  Lady,  or  Mother  Ann. 


SHAKER  DANCE,  ABOUT  1830.     (From  a  contemporary  print.) 

The  Jews  had  synagogues  in  some  large  places,  but  no  cen- 
tral organization.  On  the  frontier,  religion  was  emotional. 
There  was  a  great  revival  of  religion  in  1800,  and  the  "camp 
meeting"  was  invented  in  Kentucky. 

All  the  churches  enjoyed  the  greatest  religious  freedom  that 
had  ever  been  known  in  the  history  of  mankind.  Each  denom- 
ination selected  its  ministers,  laid  down  its  doctrine,  and  dis- 
ciplined its  members  in  its  own  way.  For  the  individual  there 
was  equal  freedom.  The  federal  Constitution  of  1787  prohibited 
any  religious  test  for  federal  office ;  and  the  states  in  course  of 


Review  207 

time  removed  most  of  the  religious  qualifications  both  for 
voters  and  for  public  officers. 

134.   REVIEW 

To  describe  the  American  people  just  after  the  Revolution 
is  a  hard  task,  because  there  was  no  single  kind  of  American 
people.  Nearly  a  fifth  of  the  whole  population  was  negro. 
About  a  fifth  of  the  white  people  were  Scotch-Irish,  German, 
or  Dutch.  The  cities  were  few  and  small. 

After  1794  the  cotton  gin  made  cotton  a  profitable  crop. 

Manufactures  for  general  markets  began  to  appear,  manned 
by  free  workmen.  A  new  shipping  trade  sprang  up  with  the 
Orient,  and  large  business  houses  and  local  merchants  increased. 
Wagon  roads  were  extended  into  the  far  West,  and  in  the  older 
parts  of  the  country  stone  roads  or  turnpikes  were  built,  and  a 
few  canals  were  opened.  Numerous  corporations  were  formed 
for  banks,  insurance  companies,  road  companies,  and  manu- 
facturing companies ;  textile  machinery  was  introduced  ;  and 
efforts  were  made  to  invent  practical  steamboats. 

After  a  long  period  of  disregard  for  the  rights  of  the  poor  and 
weak,  the  humanitarian  spirit  of  the  Revolution  was  applied  to 
better  the  conditions  of  the  unfortunate,  the  poor,  and  the 
slave.  Steps  were  taken  toward  a  more  democratic  type  of 
government ;  for  the  Americans  still  felt  a  deference  toward 
what  John  Adams  called  "the  rich,  the  well-born,  and  the  able." 

The  schools  of  some  states  shared  in  this  democratic  spirit, 
for  common  schools  were  established  for  both  boys  and  girls. 
Academies  began  to  increase  and  a  few  colleges  were  founded. 
This  period  witnessed  the  growth  of  genuine  American  liter- 
ature and  architecture.  Many  religious  denominations  in  the 
country  provided  themselves  with  national  organizations.  The 
people  began  to  feel  that  they  belonged  to  one  nation. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  map,  p.  268.  Johnson,  Union  and  Democ- 
racy, 49,  125.  —  See  U.  S.  Supt.  of  Docs.,  Geog.  and  Explor.  List. 


208     The  Original  People  of  the  Federal  Union 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  I.  1-184.  —  Bassett,  Federalist  System, 
chs.  x— xiii.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  x,  xi.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality, 
ch.  i.  —  Fiske,  Critical  Period,  50-89.  —  Hunt,  James  Madison,  67-86. 

—  Locke,  Antislavery,  88-m,  166-197.  —  McMaster,    U.S.,  I.  1-102, 
423-436,  II.  1-24,  57-66,  158-165,  538-582,  III.  514-516,  V.  268-284.  — 
Merwin,  Thomas  Jejferson,  45-58.  —  Rhodes,    U.S.,  I.  3-27.  —  Schou- 
ler,  U.S.,  I.  1-12,  221-241.  —  Sparks,  Expansion,  135-187.  —  Weeden, 
New  Engl.  II.  816-875.  —  See  also  references  to  chapter  vi. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  181-184,  200-208,  219- 
234,  240,  252-275.  —  Bowne,  Girl's  Life  Eighty  Years  Ago.  —  Caldwell 
and  Persinger,  Source  History,  246-264.  —  Grant,  Memoirs  of  an  Am. 
Lady.  —  Graydon,  Memoirs.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§10-36; 
Patriots  and  Statesmen,  II.  168-172,  185-190,  241-250,  291-293,'  368, 
378-381,  III.  32-34,  67-71,  103-107,  213-215,  247.  —  James,  Readings, 
§§  39-44-  —  Scudder,  Men  and  Manners  in  America. 

Illustrative.  Barr,  Maid  of  Maiden  Lane;  Trinity  Bells  (N.Y.).  — 
Brown,  Arthur  Mervyn  (Philadelphia).  —  Cleghorn,  Turnpike  Lady.  — 
Earle,  Two  Centuries  of  Costume.  —  Kennedy,  Swallow  Barn  (Va.).  — 
May,  In  Old  Quinnebasset  (N.E.).  —  Shelton,  Salt-Box  House,  168- 
237.  —  Stowe,  Minister's  Wooing;  Oldtown  Folks  (N.E.). 

Pictures.  A  very,  U.S.,  V-VII.  —  Earle's  books,  cited  above  and 
in  refs.  to  ch.  v.  — Mentor,  serial  nos.,  77,  106,  109.  —  Sparks,  Expan- 
sion. —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Slaves  on  plantations  in  1790.  [§  125]  —  (2)  First  American  voy- 
age to  China.  [§  126]  —  (3)  Early  American  turnpike  roads.  [§  127]  — 
(4)  Introduction  of  spinning  machinery  by  Slater.  [§  128]  —  (5)  Steam- 
boats of  Fitch  and  Rumsey.  [§  128]  —  (6)  Jefferson's  opinions  on 
slavery.  [§  129]  —  (7)  New  England  district  schools  about  1800.  [§  131] 

—  (8)   Girls'  schools  about  1800.  [§  131]  —  (9)   Characteristic  letters  of 
George  Washington.  [§  132]  —  (10)  The  Shakers.  [§  133] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  One  of  the  following  races  in  the  United  States  in  1790:  Scotch- 
Irish;  Germans;  English.  [§  123]  —  (12)  Conditions  in  some  one  of 
the  cities  in  1790.  [§  123]  —  (13)  Account  of  Whitney's  cotton 
gin.  [§  125]  — (14)  Whale  fishery  about  1790.  [§  126]  — (15)  East 
India  trade  about  1800.  [§  126]  —  (16)  The  Wilderness  Road.  [§  127]  — 
(17)  Early  plans  for  an  Erie  Canal.  [§  127] — •  (18)  Treatment  of  Ameri- 
can sailors  on  their  own  ships.  [§  129]  —  (10)  Origin  of  the  Tammany 
Society.  [§  130]  —  (20)  Details  of  the  organization  of  some  one  of  the 
national  churches  about  1800.  [§  133] 


CHAPTER  XH 

APPLYING  THE   CONSTITUTION    (1789-1793) 
135.   STARTING  THE  GOVERNMENT  (1789-1793) 

THE  federal  Constitution  laid  down  the  general  principles 
of  the  government ;  but  many  details  had  to  be  settled  by  Con- 
gress, whose  work  in  the  early  years  was  hardly  less  important 
than  ihat  of  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  The  first  presi- 
dential election  came  in  1788.  There  was  no  contest  for  the 
presidency,  as  everybody  expected  George  Washington  to  have 
the  first  vote  of  every  elector.  John  Adams  was  elected  Vice 
President. 

The  members  of  Congress  drifted  into  New  York  slowly,  so 
that  both  houses  were  not  organized  till  April  6,  1789.  Fred- 
erick Muhlenberg  of  Pennsylvania  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  Vice  President  John  Adams 
took  his  seat  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate.  Then  the  two 
houses  laid  down  rules  for  their  procedure,  and  thus  made  prece- 
dents which  now  have  almost  the  weight  of  law.  The  House 
from  the  beginning,  and  the  Senate  from  1793,  have  almost 
always  sat  in  open  session.  Congress  voted  its  members  a 
salary  of  $6  (later  $8)  a  day  while  in  session.  Committees  at 
first  were  chosen  by  ballot  in  both  houses,  but  after  1790  the 
House  authorized  the  Speaker  to  appoint  all  its  committees,  a 
great  power  which  he  enjoyed  until  1911.  Within  a  few  years 
there  began  to  grow  up  a  system  of  standing  committees  ap- 
pointed at  the  beginning  of  each  session.  At  last  the  people  of 
the  United  States  had  a  government  that  could  govern.  Ever 
since  1775  they  had  been  moving  toward  this  "  more  perfect 
union,"  which  could  pass  laws  binding  on  every  person  in  the 
land. 

HART'S  NEW  AMK.R.  HIST. —  14    209 


2io  Applying  the  Constitution 

136.  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  THE  DEPARTMENTS  (1789-1793) 

Meanwhile,  Washington  arrived  in  New  York  and  was 
received  by  thousands  of  enthusiastic  people.  On  April  30, 
1789,  he  was  solemnly  inaugurated  at  Federal  Hall  on  Wall 
Street,  where  he  took  the  oath  of  office,  and  made  a  simple 
and  earnest  speech.  Congress  voted  the  President  $25,000  a 
year,  the  largest  salary  then  received  by  any  man  in  the 
United  States.  Washington  liked  ceremony,  and  it  was  un- 


UNITED  STATES  IN  1790. 

derstood  that  he  approved  the  proposed  title  of  "His  High- 
ness, the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  Pro- 
tector of  their  Liberties,"  though  Patrick  Henry  said  of  the 
title  that  "it  squinted  toward  monarchy."  Eventually  no  title 
was  given  by  law;  so  that  the  official  form  of  address  to  the 
President  is  simply,  "Mr.  President." 

One  of  the  earliest  tasks  of  Congress  was  to  organize  the 
executive  departments,  and  in  its  first  session  it  created  three : 
(i)  The  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs  (a  name  soon  changed 


Amendments  and  Courts  211 

to  Department  of  State);  it  was  under  Thomas  Jefferson  as 
Secretary  of  State.  (2)  The  War  Department;  Henry  Knox 
was  reappointed  Secretary  of  War.  (3)  The  Treasury;  the 
first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  Alexander  Hamilton. 
In  addition,  Congress  created  the  office  of  Attorney-General, 
who  later  became  the  head  of  a  department,  but  for  many 
years  had  only  clerks  under  him.  The  former  Post  Office 
was  continued,  and  Samuel  Osgood  was  appointed  Postmaster- 
General. 

All  these  officers  were  appointed  by  the  President  subject 
to  the  confirmation  of  the  Senate.  By  the  casting  vote  of 
John  Adams  in  the  Senate,  Congress  established  the  wholesome 
principle  that  the  President  should  have  the  power  of  remov- 
ing heads  of  departments  and  other  officers  without  the  consent 
of  the  Senate.  He  is  thus  enabled  to  carry  on  his  constitutional 
duty  "to  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed." 

The  President  at  once  began  to  use  his  constitutional  right 
to  call  on  the  heads  of  departments  for  written  opinions ;  and 
he  went  further  by  asking  the  three  Secretaries  and  the  Attor- 
ney-General to  meet  him  from  time  to  time  and  discuss  public 
business.  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  unofficial  "Cabinet," 
to  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Postmaster-General,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  Secretary  of 
Commerce,  and  Secretary  of  Labor  have  since  been  added. 

137.   AMENDMENTS  AND  COURTS  (1789-1793) 

Another  early  task  of  Congress  was  the  consideration  of  the 
constitutional  amendments  that  had  been  recommended  by 
state  conventions.  Ten  amendments  passed  by  the  requisite 
two-thirds  vote  in  both  houses,  were  duly  ratified  by  three 
fourths  of  the  states,  and  thus  became  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion (1791).  These  amendments  formed  a  little  bill  of  rights, 
assuring  jury  trial,  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  etc., 
against  any  action  by  the  federal  government,  and  included  as 
the  Tenth  Article  the  important  provision  that  "The  powers 


212  Applying  the  Constitution 

not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people."  (See  Appendix  E.) 

The  Constitution  provides  that  there  shall  be  a  Supreme  Court 
and  inferior  courts,  leaving  it  to  Congress  to  settle  the  details. 
By  a  "Judiciary  Act"  (September  24, 1789)  most  of  which  is  still 
in  force,  Congress  created  two  kinds  of  inferior  courts  from 
which  appeals  could  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Appeals 
could  also  be  taken  from  the  highest  state  courts  to  the  federal 
Supreme  Court,  in  cases  involving  the  federal  law.  Thus  all 
suits  turning  on  federal  law  might  finally  be  brought  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  so  that  there  should  be 
one  highest  authority  on  federal  law  throughout  the  country. 

The  President  at  once  appointed  John  Jay  of  New  York 
to  be  Chief  Justice.  The  first  Supreme  Court  case  which 
attracted  much  notice  was  Chisholm  vs.  Georgia  in  1793,  in 
which  the  court  gave  a  decision  against  the  state.  To  prevent 
such  suits  against  a  state  by  citizens  of  another  state  or  of  a 
foreign  country,  the  Eleventh  Amendment  was  at  once  proposed, 
and  speedily  added  to  the  Constitution. 

138.  NATIONAL  CAPITAL  (1789-1790) 

The  location  of  a  permanent  seat  of  government  came  up  in 
1789  and  raised  a  hot  discussion  between  the  northern  and 
southern  sections,  both  of  which  wanted  the  capital.  The 
center  of  American  social  and  political  life  was  Philadelphia, 
seat  of  Congress  during  most  of  the  Revolution.  While  the 
British  were  in  Philadelphia,  Congress  sat  in  York,  Lancaster, 
and  Baltimore ;  and  after  Congress  was  insulted  in  its  own  hall 
by  mutinous  soldiers  in  1783,  it  sat  in  Princeton,  Trenton, 
Annapolis,  and  New  York,  but  did  not  select  any  of  them  as  the 
permanent  seat  of  government.  In  a  debate  on  the  subject,  a 
Pennsylvania  member  spoke  for  Wright's  Ferry  (Columbia, 
Pa.),  and  praised  the  fish  of  the  Susquehanna;  but  a  Georgian 
member,  who  did  not  like  to  travel  so  far,  retorted,  "This  .  .  . 


Alexander  Hamilton  213 

will  blow  the  coals  of  sedition  and  endanger  the  Union.  .  .  . 
This  looks  like  aristocracy."  And  a  New  England  member 
said  "he  did  not  dare  to  go  to  the  Potomac.  He  feared  that 
the  whole  of  New  England  would  consider  the  Union  as  de- 
stroyed." 

When  the  matter  came  up  again  in  1790,  it  was  tangled  with 
a  proposal  that  the  federal  government  assume  the  outstand- 
ing state  debts,  which  the  southern  members  opposed  and 
the  New  England  members  favored.  Hamilton,  as  a  northern 
man,  appealed  to  Jefferson,  over  whose  dining  table  an  agree- 
ment was  reached  that  the  Virginia  members  would  vote  for 
assumption,  if  Hamilton  would  find  the  votes  necessary  to  fix 
the  capital  on  the  Potomac ;  and  by  this  compromise  (it  would 
be  called  a  "deal"  nowadays)  both  measures  were  passed. 
Eighteen  million  dollars  was  distributed  among  the  states, 
to  close  up  their  debts ;  and  the  capital  was  fixed  for  ten 
years  at  Philadelphia,  and  then  in  a  district  ten  miles  square 
to  be  selected  by  the  President  on  the  Potomac  River.  This 
was  the  origin  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

139.   ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  (1789-1793) 

To  Alexander  Hamilton  the  present  government  of  the 
United  States  owes  almost  as  much  as  to  Madison  or  to  Wash- 
ington ;  for  he  had  the  genius  to  think  out  methods  of  organiz- 
ing the  new  national  government.  Hamilton  was  born  in  the 
island  of  Nevis  in  tjie  West  Indies  (1757),  and  was  educated  at 
King's  College,  now  Columbia  University.  When  the  Revolu- 
tion broke  out,  he  began  to  write  patriotic  pamphlets,  then 
joined  the  army,  and  attracted  the  notice  of  Washington,  who 
never  ceased  to  love  and  admire  him.  He  sat  in  the  Congress 
of  the  Confederation  for  a  time  (1782-1783),  but  a  friend  said 
of  him  that  he  was  not  "adapted  to  a  council  composed  of  dis- 
cordant materials,  or  to  a  people  which  have  thirteen  heads." 
He  was  a  famous  lawyer,  but  his  genius  was  especially  fitted  to 
finance,  and  it  was  a  national  blessing  when,  in  September, 


214  Applying  the  Constitution 

1789,  at  thirty-two  years  of  age,  he  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury. 

It  was  a  discouraging  post.  Hamilton  found  a  debt  of  about 
$50,000,000  and  no  money  in  the  treasury ;  the  accounts  were 
in  confusion ;  the  old  paper-money  notes  were  repudiated 

(§  109),  and  few  seemed 
to  expect  that  the  fed- 
eral government  would 
ever  pay  its  bonded 
debt.  Hamilton  pre- 
pared a  series  of  finan- 
cial reports  to  Congress 
in  which  he  laid  down  a 
system  of  national 
finance,  which  he  pushed 
with  such  force  and 
statesmanship  that  he 
induced  Congress  to 
accept  every  one  of  the 
following  plans : 

(i)  Import  duties 
were  to  provide  for  the 
interest  on  the  public 
debt.  (2)  An  excise  on 
the  manufacture  of 
whisky  would  raise  additional  money  and  would  make  the  western 
people  understand  that  they  had  a  government.  (3)  The  debt  of 
the  United  States  was  to  be  fully  acknowledged,  and  the  govern- 
ment was  to  assume  the  state  debts,  so  as  to  interest  the  lenders 
in  the  success  of  the  government.  (4)  A  national  bank  was  to 
perform  the  government  business  and  furnish  a  safe  currency. 

140.   PUBLIC  AID  TO  BUSINESS  (1789-1793) 

What  was  the  main  reason  for  framing  and  adopting 
the  Constitution  ?  Was  it,  as  some  people  argue  nowadays, 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON.      (From  the 
portrait  by  Weimar.) 


Public  Aid  to  Business  215 

to  protect  the  property  of  those  who  framed  it  and  of  their 
friends  ?  It  is  true  that  in  the  old  Continental  Congress,  in 
the  Federal  Convention,  in  the  state  legislatures,  and  in 
later  congresses,  there  were  well-to-do  members  who  owned 
government  securities  which  were  increased  in  value  by  the 
success  of  the  new  Constitution.  It  was  the  habit  of  the 
time  to  choose  such  men  to  public  office.  There  was,  how- 
ever, no  moneyed  class  as  we  now  understand  it.  In  1789 
there  were  very  few  banks  in  the  whole  country  and  hardly 
any  corporations  except  insurance  companies.  The  only  large 
business  men  were  great  merchants,  who  were  also  ship- 
owners. Very  few  men  had  money  at  interest,  and  those  did 
not  look  upon  themselves  as  separated  from  or  opposed  to 
the  landowning  farmers  and  the  planters  of  the  South. 

There  was  a  general  feeling  throughout  the  country  that  a 
new  Constitution  was  needed  in  order  to  give  business  an  oppor- 
tunity to  develop.  This  sentiment  was  shown  in  the  settlement 
of  the  national  debt,  a  difficult  task,  because  many  owners  of 
certificates  of  that  debt  had  bought  them  at  a  depreciation. 
Some  members  of  Congress  wanted  to  pay  them  at  less  than 
their  face  value.  Hamilton  insisted,  and  Congress  agreed,  that 
the  actual  legal  holders  of  certificates  ought  to  be  paid  in  full 
because  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  government  to  borrow 
money  in  such  a  way  that  its  bonds  or  certificates  would  easily 
pass  from  hand  to  hand  without  anybody's  trying  to  figure  out 
whether  only  a  portion  of  them  would  be  paid.  In  a  few  months, 
the  surprised  holders  of  government  bonds  began  for  the  first 
time  to  receive  regular  interest  on  their  holdings ;  and  the  result 
was  that  the  certificates  of  the  national  debt  quickly  rose  to  par. 

Several  manufacturers  sent  in  petitions  asking  Congress 
to  pass  a  protective  tariff;  Pennsylvanians  were  anxious  to 
protect  "our  infant  manufactures."  On  the  other  hand,  South 
Carolinians  thought  that  protection  was  "big  with  oppression." 
"Middle-of-the-road  men"  like  Madison  of  Virginia  were  op- 
posed to  protection  as  a  system,  but  were  willing  to  lay  duties 


216  Applying  the  Constitution 

in  order  to  encourage  young  industries  and  build  up  the  manu- 
facture of  military  material.  The  outcome  of  these  discussions 
was  the  passage  of  the  first  tariff  act  (July  4,  1789),  which  was 
before  Hamilton  came  into  office.  It  was  intended  to  give  a 
little  protection,  though  the  average  rate  of  duty  was  only  about 
85  per  cent  —  the  lowest  in  our  federal  history.  Later,  at 
Hamilton's  suggestion,  the  import  duties  were  raised  a  little, 
and  an  "  excise"  —  that  is,  a  special  tax  on  making  liquor  — 
was  laid  on  whisky  (March  3,  1791),  amounting  to  7  or  8  cents 
a  gallon. 

The.  country  greatly  needed  a  permanent  specie  currency ; 
therefore,  Congress  passed  an  act  (April  2,  1792)  establishing 
a  United  States  mint,  to  which  any  possessor  of  gold  or 
silver  could  bring  gold  or  silver  bullion  and  have  it  coined  into 
gold  or  silver  pieces  without  charge  except  for  the  stamping. 
The  act  also  established  the  ratio  of  fifteen  to  one  between  gold 
and  silver;  that  is,  $15  in  gold  coin  was  to  weigh  exactly  as 
much  as  $i  in  silver. 

Vessel  owners  also  asked  for  protection  through  a  ton- 
nage tax  which  should  be  higher  on  foreign  than  on  American 
shipping.  Hence  Congress  used  the  commercial  power  which 
it  received  under  the  third  compromise  of  the  Constitution 
(§  119)  by  passing  such  a  discriminating  act.  Some  years 
later,  all  foreign  vessels  were  excluded  from  the  coasting  trade 
between  American  ports. 

As  a  result  of  these  acts  and  of  the  prospect  that  the  Union 
would  continue,  exports  and  imports  at  once  began  to  increase, 
but  for  some  years  the  growth  was  very  irregular. 

141.   THE  NATIONAL  BANK  (1791) 

The  greatest  boon  for  business  men,  perhaps,  was  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  which  was  chartered  by  Congress  (Febru- 
ary 25,  1791)  and  which  Hamilton  looked  upon  as  the  crown 
of  his  whole  system.  At  this  time  there  were  only  three  state 
banks,  and  the  purpose  of  the  act  was  to  bring  the  banking 


The  National  Bank  217 

business  chiefly  under  the  control  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, which  took  one  fifth  of  the  stock.  The  capital  of 
$10,000,000  was  quickly  subscribed  and  was  as  important  in 
the  conditions  of  that  time  as  a  bank  would  be  to-day  with  a 
capital  of  $1,000,000,000. 

The  services  which  the  bank  was  expected  to  perform  for 
business  men. were  as  follows:  (i)  to  receive  and  hold  deposits 
of  individuals ;  (2)  to  have  the  custody  of  most  of  the  govern- 
ment balances;  (3)  to  make  loans  to  business  men  out  of  its 
capital  and  deposits;  (4)  to  make  exchanges  for  individuals 
and  the  government  by  receiving  money  at  one  place  and  pay- 
ing it  out  at  another ;  (5)  to  issue  paper  notes,  holding  a  re- 
serve of  gold  and  silver  so  as  to  redeem  .on  demand  any  that 
might  be  presented.  The  chief  object  of  the  bank  was  even 
deeper  than  these  great  services.  Hamilton  wanted  the  business 
men  of  the  country  to  feel  that  their  welfare  and  prosperity 
would  be  aided  by  a  great  banking  corporation  chartered  by 
the  federal  government. 

Upon  this  question  rose  the  first  of  many  debates  on  the 
powers  of  Congress  under  the  Constitution.  There  was  no 
direct  statement  in  that  document  on  banks  or  corporations, 
but  Hamilton  argued  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  by 
giving  Congress  power  to  pass  acts  that  are  "necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  .  .  .  powers  vested  by 
this  Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,"  ex- 
pected that  such  acts  as  that  for  the  bank  would  be  passed. 
Jefferson  took  the  line  of  argument  to  which  the  term  "strict 
construction"  is  often  applied;  viz.,  that  the  bank  could  not  be 
constitutional,  because  the  Constitution  gave  no  express  power  to 
charter  a  corporation,  and  that  a  bank  was  not  "necessary  and 
proper,"  since  all  the  services  which  it  might  perform  for  the 
government  could  be  secured  in  some  other  way.  Hamilton, 
arguing  from  "loose  construction,"  insisted  that  Congress  had 
the  "implied  power"  to  carry  out  any  of  its  expressed  powers 
through  a  corporation,  if  that  would  do  the  work  better ;  and 


218  Applying  the  Constitution 

that   "necessary  and  proper"  did  not  mean  "indispensable," 
but  "suitable." 

All  the  northern  votes  in  Congress,  except  one,  were  in  favor 
of  the  act.  Washington  signed  it,  and  twenty-eight  years  later 
the  Supreme  Court  adopted  Hamilton's  doctrine  of  implied 
powers,  and  it  is  now  constantly  used  in  the  legislation  of  Con- 
gress. The  bank  was  at  once  organized,  with  a  head  office  in 
Philadelphia  and  eight  branches  in  other  cities,  and  proved  a 
safe  and  prosperous  concern.  Yet  the  debates  brought  out 
the  division  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  into  two  ways 
of  thought  — for  and  against  a  vigorous  active  national  gov- 
ernment. The  first  appearance  of  national  parties  can  be 
traced  back  to  this  discussion. 

142.   GROWTH  OF  THE  WEST  (1789-1801) 

The  first  enlargement  of  the  Union  was  by  the  admission  of 
Vermont,  a  New  England  frontier  community,  as  the  i4th 
state  in  1791.  In  the  following  year  the  western  territory  of 
Virginia,  with  her  consent,  was  admitted  as  the  state  of  Ken- 
tucky (i$th  state). 

All  the  old  questions  about  the  right  of  Congress  to  establish 
territories  in  the  West  and  to  regulate  the  settlers  and  the  In- 
dians were  now  at  an  end,  for  Congress  quickly  began  to  use  its 
new  powers  over  territories  and  over  Indian  trade  and  tribes. 
The  settlers  were  warned  not  to  go  into  the  regions  occupied  by 
the  Indians ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Indians  were  induced  to 
cede  certain  lands  to  accommodate  white  settlers.  Neverthe- 
less, an  Indian  war  burst  out  in  the  Northwest  Territory  and 
two  small  armies  under  General  Harmar  and  General  St.  Clair 
were  defeated  by  the  Indians. 

Washington's  private  secretary  has  recorded  the  President's 
emotion  at  the  news  of  St.  Clair's  defeat  (1791).  "And  yet, 
to  suffer  that  army  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  hacked,  butchered, 
tomahawked  by  a  surprise  —  the  very  thing  I  guarded  him 
against!  OGod,O  God,  he  is  worse  than  a  murderer!"  "But," 


Beginning  of  Political  Parties  219 

he  added,  recovering  himself,  "General  St.  Clair  shall  have 
justice!"  Anthony  Wayne,  who  was  now  put  in  command, 
built  frontier  posts,  thoroughly  thrashed  the  Indians,  and  made 
possible  the  treaty  of  Greenville  (1795),  by  which  the  Indians 
gave  up  the  territory  now  composing  southern  and  eastern  Ohio. 

The  Southwest  grew  rapidly.  South  of  Kentucky,  Congress 
set  up  the  "Territory  South  of  the  Ohio  River"  in  1790;  and 
six  years  later  that  region  came  into  the  Union  under  the 
name  of  Tennessee  (i6th  state).  Still  farther  south  the 
controversy  over  the  western  claims  of  Georgia  continued ; 
but  Congress  created  the  Mississippi  Territory  out  of  a  part  of 
the  disputed  land  (1798),  and  four  years  later  Georgia  ceded 
everything  west  of  her  present  boundary,  and  the  long  contro- 
versy as  to  western  lands  was  ended  (§  105). 

Meanwhile  settlers  were  pouring  into  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory. Virginia  opened  up  her  reserve  of  Military  Bounty 
Lands  north  of  the  Ohio.  Then  followed  new  communities 
near  Chillicothe  on  the  Scioto,  and  at  Losantiville,  now  called 
Cincinnati.  Along  Lake  Erie  settlement  began  about  1795, 
when  Connecticut  sold  the  greater  part  of  the  Western  Reserve 
to  the  Connecticut  Land  Company.  General  Moses  Cleave- 
land,  agent  of  the  company,  in  1796  founded  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Cuyahoga,  on  Lake  Erie,  the  city  now  called  Cleveland, 
for  the  founder.  Next  year  the  "Girdled  Road"  was  made 
from  the  Pennsylvania  line  along  the  lake  to  Cleveland.  In 
1800  the  state  of  Connecticut  ceded  to  the  United  States  all 
jurisdiction  over  the  Reserve,  so  that  the  lake  and  river  settle- 
ments might  be  united  into  a  new  state.  Indiana  Territory 
was  immediately  set  off,  and  in  1802  the  people  of  Ohio  were 
authorized  to  form  a  state  government,  and  were  duly  admitted 
to  the  Union  the  next  year  (i7th  state). 

143.   BEGINNING  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  (1792) 

Till  about  1793  there,  were  no  national  political  parties,  for 
the  Anti-Federalists  disappeared  soon  after  the  Constitution  was 


220  Applying  the  Constitution 

adopted,  and  hardly  a  man  in  the  country  any  longer  criticized 
the  Constitution.  The  first  division  on  living  issues  came 
about  in  meetings  of  the  Cabinet,  where  Jefferson  says  that 
he  and  Hamilton  from  day  to  day  attacked  each  other  "like 
cocks  in  a  pit."  The  two  men  and  their  followers  absolutely 
disagreed  on  the  cardinal  questions  of  the  nature  of  govern- 
ment. Hamilton  and  his  friends  believed  that  the  opinion  of 
the  educated  and  property-holding  classes  must  always  be  the 
best  for  the  ignorant  and  the  poor.  He  is  said  to  have  remarked 
once  at  a  dinner:  "Your  people,  your  people,  sir,  is  a  great 
beast."  The  other  side  was  represented  by  Jefferson,  who 
counted  himself  among  "those  who  identify  themselves  with 
the  people,  have  confidence  in  them,  cherish  and  consider  them 
as  the  most  honest  and  safe,  although  not  the  most  wise  deposi- 
tory of  the  public  interest." 

Hamilton  and  his  friends  believed  further  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  government  to  encourage  private  enterprise,  and  to 
that  end  laid  down  their  principle  of  "loose  construction" 
(§  141).  Jefferson's  theory  of  "strict  construction"  of  the 
Constitution  was  that  government  ought  to  do  as  little  as  pos- 
sible, that  it  ought  to  lay  taxes  only  for  absolutely  necessary 
expenses,  and  that  the  development  of  the  country  ought  to 
be  left  to  individuals. 

On  almost  the  same  day  (in  May,  1792)  Hamilton  wrote  that 
Madison  and  Jefferson  were  at  the  head  of  a  "faction  decidedly 
hostile  to  me,  .  .  .  and  dangerous  to  the  Union,  peace  and 
prosperity  of  the  country";  and  Jefferson  described  Hamilton 
and  his  friends  as  "monarchical  federalists."  In  the  election 
of  1792,  though  there  was  not  a  vote  against  Washington,  there 
was  a  strong  and  almost  successful  attempt  to  displace  Adams 
as  Vice  President ;  and  thenceforth  one  body  of  men  throughout 
the  country  took  on  the  party  name  of  Federalists,  and  the 
Jieffersonians  called  themselves  Republicans.1 

'This  first  Republican  or  Democratic- Republican  party  is  not  to  be 
confused  with  the  new  party  of  the  same  name  organized  in  1854. 


Review  221 

144.  REVIEW 

The  new  government  was  organized  in  1789  and  George 
Washington  was  the  first  President.  Under  the  Constitution 
he  appointed  heads  to  the  new  executive  departments  which 
were  created  by  Congress,  and  also  the  judges  of  the  new  federal 
courts.  He  invited  the  heads  of  the  four  principal  departments 
to  consult  with  him,  and  that  is  the  foundation  of  the  so-called 
Cabinet.  Congress  also  organized  the  courts,  and  submitted 
to  the  state  legislatures  eleven  constitutional  amendments  which 
were  adopted.  The  first  ten  made  a  kind  of  bill  of  rights. 

The  first  sharp  division  of  opinion  in  Congress  was  over 
the  national  capital,  which  was  finally  placed  on  the  Potomac 
River.  To  secure  this  result  certain  members  of  Congress  agreed 
to  vote  for  the  assumption  of  the  outstanding  state  public  debts. 
In  this  transaction  and  in  other  great  statutes  for  setting  the 
government  in  motion,  the  leader  was  Alexander  Hamilton, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  induced  Congress  to  fund  the 
national  debt  in  full ;  he  urged  a  protective  tariff  which  was 
passed ;  and  he  secured  an  excise  on  liquors.  Hamilton's  great- 
est triumph  was  the  charter  of  a  national  bank  (1791)  in  which 
the  United  States  government  was  a  stockholder.  That  raised 
the  question  of  whether  Congress  had  "implied  powers"  bear- 
ing upon  matters  not  expressly  mentioned  in  the  Constitution. 

Vermont,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  were  admitted  into  the 
Union.  The  western  claims  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia 
were  ceded ;  Connecticut  also  ceded  control  over  the  so-called 
Western  Reserve,  and  then  Ohio  was  admitted  (1803). 

After  1793,  two  political  parties  appeared,  the  Federalist  and 
the  Republican,  headed  by  Alexander  Hamilton  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  this  division  spread  throughout  the  Union. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  176,  242.  Johnson,  Union  and 
Democracy,  59.  —  Sample,  Geogr.  Conditions,  75-92. 


222  Applying  the  Constitution 

Secondary.  Bassett,  Federalist  System,  chs.  i,  iii.  —  Dcwey,  Finan- 
cial Hist.,  §§  34-52.  —  Ford,  True  George  Washington.  —  Foster,  Cen- 
tury of  Diplomacy,  103-135.  —  Gordy,  Polil.  Parties,  I.  103-158.  — 
Hinsdale,  Old  Northwest,  296-313,  368-388.  —  Hunt,  James  Madison, 
167-212. — Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  ch.  iii. —  Lodge,  George 
Washington,  II.  chs.  ii,  iii,  vii ;  Alexander  Hamilton,  chs.  v,  vi.  —  Mc- 
Dougall,  Fugitive  Slaves,  §§  16-19.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  I.  525-604,  II. 
24-57,  67-89,  144-154,  III.  116-123.  —  Morse,  Thomas  Jefferson,  chs. 
viii,  ix.  —  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  IV.  i-ioo.  —  Schouler,  U.S., 
I.  70-220.  —  Stanwood,  Presidency,  I.  chs.  ii,  iii.  —  Treat,  Land  System, 
ch.  iv.  —  Walker,  Making  of  the  Nation,  73-114.  —  Winsor,  Westward 
Movement,  375-574. 

Sources.  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed.  Rels.  1-15.  —  Bogart  and 
Thompson,  Readings,  485-490.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§  76-89; 
Patriots  and  Statesmen,  II.  363-367,  372-378,  381-383. — Johnson, 
Readings,  §§  46-67.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  6-12.  — Maclay, 
Journal.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  10,  74.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist. 
Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  80 ;  Syllabus,  334-336. 

Illustrative.  Allen,  Choir  Invisible  (Ky.).  —  Cooper,  Pioneers.  — 
Hale,  East  and  West  (N.  W.  Terr.).  —  Paulding,  Westward  Ho!  (Ky.). 

Pictures.     Avery,    U.S.,  VII.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Washington's  journey  from  Virginia  to  New  York.  [§  136]  — 
(2)  John  Jay  as  Chief  Justice.  [§  137]  —  (3)  The  first  ten  constitutional 
amendments.  [§  137]  —  (4)  The  Eleventh  Amendment.  [§  137]  — 
(5)  Laying  out  of  the  city  of  Washington.  [§  138]  —  (6)  Alexander 
Hamilton  as  a  young  man.  [§  139]  —  (7)  Admission  of  one  of  the  follow- 
ing states  :  Vermont;  Kentucky;  Tennessee;  Ohio.  [§  142]  —  (8)  Ac- 
count of  Indiana  Territory.  [§  142] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(9)  Early  cabinet  meetings.  [§  136]  —  (10)  Was  the  Constitution 
made  by  capitalists?  [§  140]  —  (n)  Early  arguments  for,  or  against, 
a  protective  tariff.  [§  140]  —  (12)  Early  arguments  for,  or  against, 
'a  national  bank.  [§  141]  —  (13)  Account  of  the  Indian  wars  on  the 
northwest  frontier.  [§  142]  —  (14)  Early  settlements  on  the  south  shore 
of  Lake  Erie.  [§  142]  —  (15)  What  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  thought 
about  each  other.  [§  143] 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BEGINNING   OF  PARTY  POLITICS    (1793-1801) 
145.   RELATIONS  WITH  FRANCE  (1789-1793) 

THE  Federalist  leaders  had  to  deal  not  only  with  the  great 
problem  of  organizing  a  system  of  government  and  business 
that  would  serve  the  needs  of  the  nation,  but  also  with  diffi- 
cult and  dangerous  relations  toward  foreign  nations.  Before 
the  new  system  was  fairly  in  operation,  the  great  French  Revo- 
lution of  1789  broke  out.  In  1792  France  was  declared  a  repub- 
lic ;  soon  after,  King  Louis  XVI  was  executed  by  his  people 
and  the  French  republic  declared  war  against  Great  Britain  and 
Spain.  The  national  sympathy  of  America  went  out  to  France 
as  a  friend,  ally,  and  sister  republic,  apparently  struggling 
against  tyranny.  Furthermore,  by  the  treaty  of  1778  the 
United  States  was  bound  to  defend  the  French  West  Indies  in 
case  of  "defensive  war."  Since  the  British  had  recently  been 
enemies,  and  were  still  on  bad  terms  with  the  United  States, 
the  French  government  expected  that  the  United  States  would 
directly,  or  by  secret  aid,  join  in  the  war  against  Great  Britain 
and  Spain ;  and  they  sent  over  a  new  ambassador,  Edmond 
Genet,  to  bring  about  that  result. 

When  the  news  of  the  outbreak  of  war  was  received  in  Amer- 
ica, Congress  was  not  in  session,  and  President  Washington 
decided  quickly  that  the  country  was  in  no  condition  for  war. 
Even  Jefferson,  whom  Hamilton  accused  of  "a  womanish 
attachment  for  France  and  a  womanish  resentment  against 
England,"  reluctantly  admitted  that  the  treaty  of  1778  could 
not  be  justly  applied  to  the  changed  conditions  of  the  time. 
223 


224  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

The  President  accordingly  (April  22,  1793)  issued  what  is 
usually  called  the  "  Proclamation  of  Neutrality,"  a  declaration 
that  the  United  States  would  "pursue  a  conduct  friendly  and 
impartial  towards  the  belligerent  powers."  This  was  clear 
evidence  that  the  United  States  would  not  take  sides  in  the 
war.  Genet  had  already  landed  in  Charleston  (April  8,  1793), 
and  began  to  issue  privateering  commissions  to  Americans  and 
to  enlist  them  for  the  French  service.  He  was  received  in  Phila- 
delphia with  enthusiasm,  and  the  friends  of  France  —  chiefly 
Republicans  —  formed  "  Democratic  clubs  "  on  the  model  of  the 
French  revolutionary  clubs.  Genet  at  first  accepted  the  Procla- 
mation of  Neutrality,  but  he  did  not  scruple  to  enlist  men  in 
the  West  for  an  expedition  to  capture  New  Orleans  from  the 
Spanish,  a  plan  which  pleased  the  Kentuckians.  Then  he  lost 
his  judgment,  and  in  his  violence  and  fury  overreached  himself : 
he  fitted  out  a  cruiser,  the  Petit  Democrat,  in  Philadelphia,  and, 
in  defiance  of  Jefferson's  protest,  sent  her  to  sea.  He  lost 
standing  further  by  trying  to  force  Washington  to  call  an 
extra  session  of  Congress.  In  December,  1793,  his  own 
government  was  weary  of  him,  and  sent  a  recall. 

146.   NEUTRAL  TRADE  AND  IMPRESSMENTS  (1793-1794) 

The  naval  war  involved  all  the  principal  European  maritime 
nations:  Dutch,  Spanish,  French,  and  British  merchantmen 
were  chased  on  every  sea.  The  United  States  unexpectedly 
became  the  principal  neutral,  but  Great  Britain  quickly  showed 
unwelcome  views  as  to  the  rights  of  neutrals ;  and  since  there 
was  no  commercial  treaty  between  the  two  countries,  they 
fell  back  on  uncertain  and  disputed  principles  of  international 
law: 

(i)  The  United  States  admitted  that  neutral  ships  could  be 
captured  anywhere  on  the  sea  if  bound  to  a  port  actually 
blockaded  by  men  of  war ;  but  the  British  claimed  the  same  right 
of  capture  on  a  "paper  blockade  "  ;  that  is,  a  mere  notice,  not 
backed  up  by  a  blockading  fleet. 


Neutral  Trade  and  Impressments  225 

(2)  The  United  States  admitted  the  right  to  capture  ships 
having  on  board  "contraband,"  meaning  military  stores  des- 
tined for  an  enemy ;    but  the  British  claimed  that  provisions 
were  also   contraband,  and    therefore   seized   American   food 
ships  bound  to  French  ports. 

(3)  The  United  States  insisted  that  "free  ships  make  free 
goods"  ;  that  is,  that  an  American  ship   was  not  subject  to 
capture  simply  because  it  had  the  property  of  French  subjects 
on  board.     The  British  took  such  ships  wherever  they  could 
find  them. 

(4)  Great  Britain,  under  what  was  called  the  "Rule  of  1756," 
proceeded  to  capture  American  vessels  carrying  cargoes  from 
French  colonies  to  American  ports,  because  such  trade  had  not 
been  allowed  by  France  in  time  of  peace. 

Forthwith  scores  of  American  ships  were  taken  as  prizes 
by  British  cruisers  and  privateers.  So  far  as  they  had  oppor- 
tunity, the  French  were  as  violent  as  the  English ;  they  seized 
provision  ships  and  British  goods  in  American  ships. 

The  trouble  was  aggravated  by  the  method  of  recruiting  for 
British  ships  of  war  by  "impressing"  (seizing)  sailors  on  shore, 
or  from  British  merchant  ships.  Under  the  theory  that  a  man 
born  in  England  remained  an  Englishman  as  long  as  he  lived, 
the  British  freely  extended  their  impressment  to  persons  under 
the  protection  of  the  United  States:  (i)  to  English  sailors 
employed  in  American  ships ;  (2)  to  Englishmen  born,  who  were 
naturalized  in  the  United  States ;  (3)  sometimes  to  Englishmen 
born  who  were  American  citizens  before  the  treaty  of  peace; 
(4)  frequently  to  American  sailors  born  in  America,  and  no 
more  subject  to  Great  Britain  than  to  China. 

For  this  and  other  outrages,  Congress  in  April,  1794,  was  on 
the  point  of  declaring  war  against  Great  Britain,  but  once  more 
Washington's  calm  good  sense  saved  the  country  from  a  great 
danger.  He  nominated  John  Jay,  then  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  States,  as  special  envoy  to  make  a  last  remonstrance 
to  Great  Britain. 

HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  — 15 


226  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

147.   PEACE   WITH   GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   SPAIN    (1794-1795) 

After  nearly  four  months'  negotiation,  Jay  signed  a  treaty  in 
London  (November  19,  1794)  which  was  intended  to  settle  all 
but  one  of  the  four  controversies  then  outstanding : 

(1)  The  British  agreed  to  carry  out  the  treaty  of  1783,  by 
evacuating  the  undisputed  American   territory   (§110);    but 
then  and  thereafter  they   would    make   no  compensation  for 
slaves  carried  away  in  1783.     On  the  other  hand,  the  United 
States  undertook  to  make  compensation  to  British  merchants 
who  had  not  been  able  to  collect  debts  due  in  1775;  later  a 
lump  sum  of  about  $3,000,000  was  paid  by  the  United  States 
on  that  score.     The  loyalist  question  was  dropped,  and  never 
revived. 

(2)  For  the  capture  of  American  vessels,  the  British  govern- 
ment agreed  to  make  a  compensation,  if  a  commission  of  arbi- 
tration   so    decided;     and    eventually  paid  about  $1,000,000. 
Jay  gave  up  the  principle  that  "free  ships  make  free  goods" 
(§  146),  and  agreed  that  provisions  under  some  circumstances 
might  be  held  contraband. 

(3)  A  commercial  treaty  to  last  a  term  of  years  was  nego- 
tiated; but  the  British,  who  in  1783  had  limited  the  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies  to  British  ships 
(§  no),  refused  to  open  it  to  American  ships. 

(4)  On  impressment,  Jay  could  get  no  agreement. 

In  general,  the  Jay  treaty  did  not  satisfy  the  shipowners 
and  commercial  people,  and  all  the  weight  of  Washington's 
influence  was  necessary  to  induce  the  Senate  to  ratify  it  by  the 
bare  two- thirds  majority  of  20  to  10.  The  House  at  first  showed 
a  strong  inclination  to  refuse  the  appropriation  necessary  to 
carry  out  the  treaty,  but  voted  the  money  at  last ;  and  war  with 
Great  Britain  was  thus  averted. 

Meanwhile  a  very  favorable  settlement  was  made  with  Spain 
by  a  treaty  of  1795,  which  gave  us :  (i)  some  desired  commercial 
arrangements ;  (2)  the  still  more  desired  navigation  of  the  Mis- 


Retirement  ot  Washington  227 

sissippi ;    (3)  an  acknowledgment  of  the  southern  boundary  as 
laid  down  by  the  British  treaty  of  1783. 

148.   WHISKY  INSURRECTION  (1794) 

While  Jay  was  negotiating  his  treaty,  trouble  broke  out  in 
western  Pennsylvania,  where  the  national  "excise"  duties  on 
the  manufacture  of  liquors,  though  low,  were  felt  by  the  many 
small  distillers.  Discontent  arose  till  several  hundred  armed 
men  attacked  the  house  of  Inspector  General  Neville,  and  it 
was  plundered  and  burned  (1794).  The  mail  from  Pittsburgh 
eastward  was  robbed,  and  about  seven  thousand  men  assembled 
at  Braddock's  Field  and  marched  to  Pittsburgh  to  intimidate 
the  town. 

Since  Governor  Mifflin  of  Pennsylvania  would  not  act, 
Washington  disregarded  him  and  called  out  thirteen  thousand 
militia  from  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Vir- 
ginia. In  October  the  little  army  crossed  the  mountains  and 
came  down  into  the  western  counties,  but  found  not  an  insur- 
rectionist in  arms,  for  most  of  the  people  who  were  wanted  had 
decamped.  Two  men  were  later  found  guilty  of  treason  by 
the  courts  for  their  share  in  the  rising  and  were  sentenced  to 
death,  but  were  pardoned  by  the  President.  In  his  messages 
to  Congress,  Washington  stated  that  the  rebellion  was  due  to 
"certain  combinations  of  men,"  or,  as  the  Senate  put  it,  to  "self- 
created  societies";  that  is,  to  the  Democratic  clubs  founded 
in  1793.  The  criticism  went  home;  and  Jefferson  and  his 
friends  —  though  they  had  no  part  in  instigating  the  rebellion 
—  soon  thought  it  desirable  to  employ  a  party  name  which  had 
not  such  associations  with  France,  and  began  again  to  call 
themselves  Republicans. 

149.   RETIREMENT  OF  WASHINGTON  (1796-1797) 

Throughout  this  difficult  period,  George  Washington  was 
the  most  clear-headed  and  unyielding  friend  of  good  national 
government.  As  President  he  showed  a  remarkable  power  to 


228  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

judge  and  select  men.  It  was  a  great  trial  to  Washington  that 
after  1792  the  newspapers  began  to  abuse  him,  and  even  his 
friend  Jefferson  wrote  a  letter  criticizing  him,  to  a  foreign  corre- 
spondent named  Mazzei,  which  found  its  way  into  print.  Jeffer- 
son tells  us  that  one  day  at  a  cabinet  meeting  the  President 
vehemently  declared  "that  he  had  never  repented  but  once  the 
having  slipped  the  moment  of  resigning  his  office,  and  that  was 
every  moment  since,  that  ...  he  had  rather  be  on  his  farm 
than  to  be  made  emperor  of  the  world,  and  yet  that  they  were 
charging  him  with  wanting  to  be  a  king! " 

•In  his  celebrated  farewell  address  of  September  17,  1796 
(composed  in  part  by  Hamilton,  but  full  of  Washington's 
principles),  Washington  rose  to  the  highest  patriotism  and 
statesmanship.  He  urged  union  of  the  North  and  South, 
union  of  the  East  and  West,  a  union  which  would  be  in 
danger  if  the  United  States  took  sides  with  either  party  in  the 
European  wars.  Hence  he  advised  his  countrymen  to  keep 
out  of  "permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign 
world." 

As  Washington  expected  to  retire  to  private  life,  the  two 
political  parties  each  tried  to  elect  his  successor  in  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  1796;  and  by  the  close  electoral  vote  of  71  to 
68,  Vice  President  Adams  was  elected  President.  The  Feder- 
alists did  not  unite  on  any  one  candidate  for  Vice  President ; 
and  the  rival  candidate  for  President,  Thomas  Jefferson,  was 
elected  to  the  lower  office. 

150.   PRESIDENT  JOHN  ADAMS  (1797-1801) 

John  Adams  of  Massachusetts  was  one  of  the  two  or  three 
men  most  responsible  for  the  Revolution.  He  served  in  the 
two  Continental  Congresses,  then  was  minister  to  France  and 
to  Holland,  and  was  one  of  the  .commissioners  of  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  (1782).  In  1785  he  was  sent  as  the  first  American  minis- 
ter to  Great  Britain,  and  when  the  king  laughingly  hinted  that 
Adams  was  no  friend  to  France,  he  replied  aptly,  "That  opin- 


The  X.  Y.  Z.  Controversy 


229 


ion,  sir,  is  not  mistaken ;  I  must  avow  to  your  Majesty,  I  have 
no  attachment  but  to  my  own  country." 

After  eight  years'  service  as  Vice  President,  Adams  became 
President  in  1797;  and  he  made  the  mistake  of  adopting  his 
predecessor's  Cabinet,  which  felt  itself  superior  to  its  chief  and 
which  took  counsel  with  his  personal  enemy  Hamilton.  Adams 
finally  dismissed  Timothy  Pickering,  Secretary  of  State ;  after  that 
he  had  some  peace  and  comfort  in  Cabinet  meetings.  During 
his  term  the  government 
moved  to  the  new  capital 
at  Washington,  and  Adams 
was  the  first  President  to 
occupy  the  White  House. 

In  getting  out  of  trouble 
with  Great  Britain,  the 
United  States  was  plunged 
a  second  time  into  difficulty 
with  the  French,  who  felt 
the  bitterest  resentment 
over  the  Jay  treaty,  because 
it  gave  to  Great  Britain 
privileges  which  were 
denied  to  France.  In  re- 
taliation, the  French  in  1 796 
again  began  to  seize  Ameri- 
can vessels ;  and  when  Charles  C.  Pinckney  arrived  in  Paris  with 
a  commission  as  minister,  he  was  warned  to  leave  France.  In  a 
message  on  this  insult  (May  16,  1797)  Adams  said,  "Such  at- 
tempts ought  to  be  repelled  with  a  decision  which  shall  convince 
France  and  the  world  that  we  are  not  a  degraded  people,  humil- 
iated under  a  colonial  spirit  of  fear  and  sense  of  inferiority." 

151.  THE  X.  Y.  Z.  CONTROVERSY  (1797-1798) 
Still  Adams  could  not  bear  to  see  his  country  drawn  into  war 
if  he  could  help  it,  and  he  therefore  commissioned  Pinckney, 


JOHN  ADAMS,  1783.     (In  court  drt>« 
from  the  portrait  by  Copley.) 


236  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

John  Marshall  of  Virginia  (two  Federalists),  and  Elbridge 
Gerry  of  Massachusetts  (a  Republican)  to  make  a  last 
effort  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  France.  After  some 
months,  dispatches  arrived,  stating  that  the  French  govern- 
ment, incensed  at  Adams's  message,  refused  officially  to  receive 
the  commissioners ;  and  that  three  men,  called  in  the  dispatches 
"X.,  Y.,  and  Z.,"  came  unofficially  to  inform  them  that  if 
they  wanted  a  treaty,  they  must  furnish  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars  "for  the  pocket  of  the  Directory  and  ministers."  When 
Mr.  X.  said  plainly  to  the  envoys,  "  Gentlemen,  you  do  not  speak 
to  the  point ;  it  is  money :  it  is  expected  that  you  will  offer 
money,"  they  responded  firmly,  "No,  no,  no;  not  a  sixpence." 
And  the  President  thereon  notified  Congress  (June  27,  1798), 
"I  will  never  send  another  minister  to  France  without  assurances 
that  he  will  be  received,  respected,  and  honored  as  becomes  the 
representative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful,  and  independent 
nation." 

152.  ALIEN   AND   SEDITION   ACTS,  AND  STATE    SOVEREIGNTY 
(1798-1800) 

Adams's  protest  at  the  shameful  attempt  to  exact  bribes  from 
American  ministers  raised  him  to  the  highest  popularity  of 
his  whole  life.  Songs  were  written  in  his  honor,  among  them 
Hopkinson's  Hail  Columbia.  The  Republicans  were  so  stunned 
by  the  behavior  of  France  that  they  could  not  stop  four  sweep- 
ing pieces  of  anti-French  legislation  by  Congress  in  1798, 
commonly  called  the  "Alien  and  Sedition  Acts":  (i)  a  Natu- 
ralization Act  raising  the  required  term  of  residence  to  fourteen 
years;  (2)  the  Alien  Friends  Act,  authorizing  the  President 
to  expel  aliens  in  time  of  peace ;  (3)  the  Alien  Enemies  Act, 
for  the  expulsion  of  aliens  (by  which  was  meant  Frenchmen)  in 
time  of  war ;  (4)  the  Sedition  Act,  making  it  a  crime  to  publish 
libels  against  the  government,  or  Congress,  or  the  President. 
The  Sedition  Act  was  passed  because  the  Republican  pro-French 
newspaper  press  was  violent  and  abusive ;  as  an  example  the 


French  Naval  War  231 

Federalists  quoted  from  the  Aurora,  which  they  thought  to  be 
an  organ  of  Jefferson,  an  article  that  called  Adams  "a  person 
without  patriotism,  without  philosophy,  without  a  taste  for  the 
fine  arts  —  a  mock  monarch." 

The  problem  of  the  Republicans  was  how  they  could  get  rid 
of  these  offensive  and  partisan  statutes ;  and  their  solution  was 
to  accuse  the  Federalist  Congress  of  exercising  powers  whichf 
really  belonged  to  the  states.  This  led  to  the  first  public  argu- 
ments that  the  states  were  not  necessarily  bound  by  acts  of 
Congress.  Late  in  1798  the  "Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolu- 
tions" were  passed  by  the  legislatures  of  those  states.  They 
attacked  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts  as  being  contrary  to  the 
superior  force  of  the  Constitution  and  held  that  they  were  "not 
law  but  utterly  void  and  of  no  force." 

The  Virginia  Resolution  was  drawn  up  by  Madison;  and, 
though  it  was  not  known  till  afterwards,  Jefferson  framed  the 
Kentucky  Resolution  and  also  a  second  and  stronger  Kentucky 
Resolution  a  year  later.  This  second  resolution  contained  the 
dangerous  declaration  that  "nullification  by  those  sovereignties 
[the  states]  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done  under  that  instru- 
ment [the  federal  Constitution]  is  the  rightful  remedy."  These 
resolutions,  which  were  really  a  kind  of  political  platform, 
attracted  great  attention  throughout  the  country ;  and  the 
consequent  popular  criticism  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts 
in  the  end  caused  the  defeat  of  the  Federalist  party. 

This  contest  brought  out  clearly  for  the  first  time  the  States 
Rights  theory  of  the  government  which  appeared  again  in 
later  times.  According  to  this  doctrine  the  states  were 
sovereign  from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  and  remained 
sovereign  after  the  Constitution  went  into  force. 

153.   FRENCH  NAVAL  WAR  (1798-1800) 

After  the  X.  Y.  Z.  affair,  there  seemed  nothing  for  it  but 
war  with  France.  In  1798  Congress  declared  the  treaties  of 
1778  at  an  end,  and  began  to  add  to  the  little  fleet;  and  the 


232  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

Navy  Department  was  organized,  with  a  Secretary.  Congress 
could  not  quite  bring  itself  to  declare  war ;  but  it  did  authorize 
the  capture  of  French  cruisers  and,  under  some  circumstances, 

of  merchantmen,  by 
warships  and  by 
American  privateers, 
of  which  365  were 
commissioned  in  a 
single  year.  The 
American  frigate  Con- 
stellation captured  the 
French  frigate  Insur- 
gente,  and  the  Boston 
took  the  French  cor- 
vette Berceau. 

Just  at  this  time, 
Napoleon  Bonaparte 
rose  to  supreme  power 
in  France  ;  and  he  saw 
no  object  in  fighting 
America.  Indirectly 
he  sent  word  that  he 
was  willing  to  make 
peace,  and  Adams, 
against  the  advice  of 
his  party  friends  and  his  Cabinet,  in  1799  directed  negotiations 
resulting  in  a  treaty  of  peace  (September  30,  1800),  which  for  a 
time  safeguarded  American  neutral  trade. 

154.   ELECTION  OF  JEFFERSON  (1800-1801) 

The  death  of  Washington,  in  1799,  took  away  the  balance 
wheel  of  American  politics,  for  Adams  offended  his  party  asso- 
ciates and  never  had  any  hold  on  the  Republicans.  Several 
prosecutions  of  Republican  journalists  under  the  Sedition  Act 
were  unfairly  pressed ;  and  such  a  protest  was  made  that  the 


NAP^EON  BONAPARTE.     (From  the 
painting  by  Delaroche.) 


Review  233 

Federalists  were  startled  at  their  own  work.  Meanwhile  the 
Federalist  journals  were  allowed  to  indulge  in  publications 
which  were  at  least  as  scurrilous  as  those  of  their  opponents. 

As  the  time  drew  on  for  the  presidential  election  of  1800,  a 
long-standing  feud  between  Hamilton  and  Adams  came  to  the 
surface,  but  Hamilton  could  not  prevent  his  rival  from  again 
receiving  the  Federalist  nomination.  Jefferson,  the  candidate 
of  the  Republicans,  was  supported  by  Aaron  Burr,  of  New  York, 
who  was  nominated  for  Vice  President ;  and  that  state  changed 
over  from  the  Federalist  column.  The  result  was  that  the 
Republican  candidates  got  73  electoral  votes  and  Adams  got 
only  65.  John  Adams  and  his  party  were  defeated. 

Every  Republican  elector  voted  both  for  Jefferson  and  for 
Burr,  so  that  there  was  a  technical  tie.  As  the  Constitution 
then  stood,  the  House  had  the  power  to  select  between  these 
two  men,  each  state  delegation  casting  one  vote.  The  Feder- 
alists had  the  majority  by  states,  and,  in  the  face  of  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Republican  voters  to  make  Jefferson  President,  many 
of  the  Federalists  voted  for  Burr,  and  came  near  electing  him. 
Jefferson  and  his  friends  were  furious,  and  even  Hamilton 
advised  his  friends  to  vote  for  Jefferson,  who  in  the  end  was 
chosen  (February  17,  1801)  by  10  states  to  4.  The  Federalists 
looked  on  the  success  of  Jefferson  as  the  undoing  of  all  their 
efforts  to  establish  a  firm  government ;  and  their  conduct  left 
in  Jefferson's  mind  a  strong  feeling  of  injury.  This  dangerous 
crisis,  in  which  the  will  of  the  people  was  almost  set  aside  through 
an  imperfection  in  the  Constitution,  led  to  the  proposal  of  the 
Twelfth  Amendment  (ratified  September,  1804)  under  which 
the  President  and  Vice  President  are  voted  for  separately. 

155.   REVIEW 

Party  divisions  in  the  United  States  were  much  affected  by 
the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe,  in  which  France  and  Great 
Britain  were  the  leading  powers  (1793).  In  the  course  of  the 
French  Revolution  of  1789  France  became  a  republic.  The 


234  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 

President  issued  a  proclamation  of  neutrality,  which  was  a  deci- 
sion that  the  United  States  would  not  take  part  in  the  war  with 
either  side ;  and  the  French  minister,  Genet,  did  his  best  to  de- 
stroy that  policy. 

Great  Britain  on  its  side  began  to  seize  American  neutral  mer- 
chant ships  on  various  pretexts  which  were  denied  by  the 
United  States,  and  came  near  bringing  on  war,  but  peace  was 
kept  by  the  Jay  treaty  (1794),  which  included  a  commercial 
agreement  with  Great  Britain.  The  Spanish  government  also 
made  a  treaty  giving  us  the  use  of  the  lower  Mississippi  (1795). 

Meantime  the  people  of  western  Pennsylvania  were  incensed 
by  the  collection  of  the  excise  on  the  manufacture  of  liquor,  and 
in  the  bloodless  Whisky  Insurrection  (1794)  tested  the  power  of 
the  government  to  defend  itself. 

President  Washington  retired  in  1797  after  publishing  a  pa- 
triotic farewell  address.  John  Adams,  who  succeeded  as  Presi- 
dent, was  not  a  tactful  or  discreet  man ;  but  he  stood  for  the 
rights  of  his  country  when  assailed  by  France  in  the  X.  Y.  Z. 
controversy  (1797).  The  Federalist  Congress,  however,  passed 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts  of  1798.  The  legislatures  of  Virginia 


WHITE  Hpusc,  WASHINGTON      (Begun,  1792;   occupied  by  Adams,  1800; 
burned,  1814;    rebuilt.  1818;    restored,  1903.) 


References  235 

and  Kentucky  retorted  with  resolutions  which  called  the  at- 
tention of  the  country  to  the  principle  of  state  sovereignty. 
The  United  States  drifted  into  a  brief  and  eventless  naval  war 
with  France ;  but  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  as  head  of  the  French 
nation,  made  peace  in  1800.  Shortly  after,  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  elected  President  against  Adams;  and  after  a  struggle  to 
overcome  the  technicalities  of  the  method  of  choosing  the  Presi- 
dent, he  duly  took  office  and  the  Republicans  thus  came  to  power 
for  the  first  time. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Avery,  U.S.,  VII.  —  Bassett,  Federalist 
System,  58,  70,  168,  176,  290.  — Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  196. 

Secondary.  Allen,  Naval  War  with  France.  —  Bassett,  Federalist 
System,  chs.  iv-ix,  xiv-xix.  —  Conant,  Alex.  Hamilton,  100-135.  —  Fish, 
Am.  Diplomacy,  chs.  viii-xi;  Am.  Nationality,  56-85.  —  Gordy,  Polit. 
Parties,  I.  159-382.  —  Hart,  Formation  of  the  Union,  §§83-92. — 
Hunt,  James  Madison,  213—270.  —  Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy, 
chs.  iv-vi.  —  Lodge,  Alex.  Hamilton,  chs.  vii-ix;  George  Washington, 
II.  chs.  iv-vi.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  II.  89-144,  165-537.  —  Maclay, 
U.S.  Navy,  I.  155-213.  —  Mahan,  Sea  Power  in  Rel.  to  War  of  1812,  I. 
68-99.  —  Morse,  Thos.  Jejferson,  chs.  x-xii;  John  Adams,  251-318.  — 
Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  IV.  101-257;  Gouverneur  Morris,  ch. 
x.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  I.  238-314.  —  Stanwood,  Presidency,  I.  chs.  iv, 
v.— Stevens,  Albert  Gallatin,  chs.  iv,  v.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 
128-163.  —  Woodburn,  Polit.  Parties,  ch.  ii. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  no.  15.  —  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed. 
Relations,  15-26.  —  Harding,  Select  Orations,  nos.  10,  n.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  III.  §§90-105;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III.  15-31, 
34-67,  72-85  ;  Source  Book,  §§  74-77.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xviii.  — 
James,  Readings,  §§  47-51.  —  Johnson,  Readings,  §§  68-70. — John- 
ston, Am.  Orations,  I.  84-143.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  13-23-  — 
Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  4,  38,  103.  —  Univ.  of  Pa.,  Translations  and 
Reprints,  VI.  no.  2.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist. 
Sources,  §  80;  Syllabus,  336,  337. 

Illustrative.  Brackenridge,  Modern  Chivalry  (Whisky  Rebellion).  — 
Cooper,  Miles  Wallingford.  —  Eggleston,  Am.  War  Ballads,  I.  102-112. 
—  Goodloe,  Caherl  of  Strathore  (France).  —  Mitchell,  Red  City.  — 
Seawell,  Little  Jarvis  (French  War). 

Pictures.     Avery,    U.S.,  VII.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 


236  Beginning  of  Party  Politics 


Topics  Answerable  from  References  Above 

(i)  The  Proclamation  of  Neutrality.  [§  145]  —  (2)  Incidents  of 
Genet's  mission.  [§  145]  —  (3)  Incidents  of  the  capture  of  American 
ships  by  the  British,  or  by  the  French.  [§  146]  —  (4)  Incidents  of 
impressment  of  American  seamen.  [§  146]  —  (5)  Jay's  experiences  in 
London.  [§  147]  —  (6)  Incidents  of  the  Whisky  Insurrection.  [§  148]  — 
(7)  Abuse  of  President  Washington  by  the  press.  [§  149]  —  (8)  John 
Adams  as  Vice  President.  [§  150]  —  (9)  Why  did  John  Adams  quarrel 
with  his  Cabinet?  [§  150]  —  (10)  Incidents  of  the  naval  war  with 
France.  [§  153] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Why  was  there  a  French  Revolution?  [§  145]  —  (12)  Why  did 
Washington  retire  from  the  presidency?  [§  149]  —  (13)  Who  were 
X.,  Y!,  and  Z.?  [§  151]  —  (14)  Objections  to  the  Alien  Friends  Act, 
or  to  the  Sedition  Act.  [§  152]  —  (15)  Interest  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
iri  the  United  States.  [§  153]  —  (16)  Aaron  Burr  as  a  politician.  [§  154] 
—  (17)  Account  of  the  Twelfth  Amendment.  [§  154] 


CHAPTER  XIV 


EXPANSION   OF  THE   REPUBLIC    (1801-1809) 
156.  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  AND  HIS  DEMOCRACY 

THE  history  of  the  United  States  from  1801  to  1809  might  be 
grouped  about  the  life  of  the  President,  Thomas  Jefferson ; 
the  people  liked  him 
and  Congress  followed 
him.  Born  in  1743, 
the  son  of  a  Virginia 
planter,  a  graduate 
of  William  and  Mary 
College,  owner  of  land 
and  slaves,  Jefferson 
nevertheless  had  a 
Yankee  love  of  novelty, 
an  interest  in  all  sorts 
of  farm  machinery, 
sciences,  and  discov- 
eries. A  visitor  said 
of  him  that  he  was  "at 
once  a  musician,  skilled 
in  drawing,  a  geome- 
trician, an  astronomer, 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  ABOUT  1800.     (From 
the  portrait  by  Stuart.) 


a  natural  philosopher, 
and  statesman."  In 
public  service  he  had  a  wonderful  career.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Virginia  Assembly  at  twenty-six  years  of  age,  then  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  then  governor  of  Virginia  (1779-1781), 
23? 


238  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

then  two  years  a  member  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation, 
then  ambassador  to  France  for  five  years,  then  Secretary  of 
State  (1790-1793),  then  Vice  President  (1797-1801). 

This  highly  aristocratic  and  intellectual  gentleman  preached 
extreme  doctrines  of  political  equality  and  popular  government. 
As  President  he  insisted  on  what  he  called  "republican  sim- 
plicity" in  the  White  House  and  in  public  intercourse.  Hence 
he  began  the  practice  of  making  all  presidential  communications 
to  Congress  in  written  messages,  instead  of  formal  addresses  to 
Congress  in  person.  He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  local  gov- 
ernment on  the  New  England  town^meeting  plan,  and  of  public 
education.  All  his  theories  of  government  were  founded  on 
confidence  in  the  average  man;  he  opposed  the  use  of  force 
even  to  keep  public  order.  Jefferson  was  never  a  good  speaker 
and  disliked  appearing  in  public;  yet  no  man  of  his  time  had 
such  influence  over  the  people.  He  found  his  principle  of 
political  equality  in  the  minds  of  his  countrymen ;  he  stated 
it  and  made  it  familiar.  In  the  end  it  led  to  the  granting  of 
manhood  suffrage  regardless  of  ownership  of  property,  pay- 
ment of  taxes,  or  religious  belief. 

One  of  Jefferson's  favorite  beliefs  was  that  governments 
ought  to  do  as  little  as  possible.  Hence,  as  soon  as  he  became 
President,  he  began  to  cut  down  the  small  army  and  navy, 
and  to  reduce  the  national  debt.  In  this  policy  he  had  the 
aid  of  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Albert  Gallatin  of  Penn- 
sylvania, a  Genevan  by  birth,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
1795  to  1801,  where  he  was  a  powerful  critic  of  Hamilton's 
finance,  and  an  able  and  honest  statesman.  Gallatin  at  once 
set  to  work  to  extinguish  the  national  debt,  a  task  which 
Jefferson  said  was  "vital  to  the  destinies  of  our  government." 
In  1 80 1  it  stood  at  $83,006,000,  but  it  was  brought  down  in 
1812  to  $45,000,000. 

Jefferson's  love  of  peace  was  sorely  tried  by  the  pirates  of 
Morocco,  Algiers,  Tripoli,  and  Tunis,  who  captured  vessels  and 
enslaved  the  crews.  Like  most  nations,  the  United  States  paid 


The  Officeholders  239 

an  annual  tribute  to  these  ruffians;  but  the  more  the  pirates 
got,  the  more  dissatisfied  they  were.  The  pasha  of  Tripoli  said, 
"We  are  all  hungry  and  if  we  are  not  provided  for,  we  soon  get 
sick  and  peevish."  Jefferson  had  to  use  the  navy  when  Tripoli 
declared  war  on  the  United  States.  From  1801  to  1805  Ameri- 
can squadrons  fought  the  Tripolitan  pirates  till  the  pasha 
gave  in.  Decatur,  Bainbridge,  and  other  naval  commanders 
rendered  good  service.  Tunis,  Algiers,  and  Morocco  yielded 
without  serious  fighting.  A  little  tribute  was  paid  by  the  United 
States  to  these  piratical  states  till  1815. 

157.  THE  OFFICEHOLDERS  (1801-1805) 

Jefferson's  party  friends  put  great  pressure  on  him  to  follow 
the  practice  usual  in  the  politics  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  other  states,  by  turning  out  the  federal  officeholders, 
nearly  all  of  whom  were  Federalists.  In  his  inaugural  address, 
March  4,  1801,  Jefferson  tried  to  soothe  his  political  opponents. 
"We  have  called  by  different  names  brethren  of  the  same 
principle,"  said  he ;  "we  are  all  Republicans,  we  are  all  Federal- 
ists." Later  he  announced  that  he  would  appoint  none  but 
Republicans,  until  the  Republicans  and  Federalists  in  office 
were  about  equal ;  "  after  which,"  said  he,  "I  .  .  .  shall  return 
with  joy  to  that  state  of  things  when  the  only  questions  con- 
cerning a  candidate  shall  be,  Is  he  honest?  Is  he  capable? 
Is  he  faithful  to  the  Constitution?"  Before  he  could  reach 
that  point,  he  removed  or  replaced  109  civil  officials,  or  about 
one  third  of  all  the  officeholders  filling  important  posts. 

In  the  last  days  of  Adams's  term  twenty-four  new  judicial 
officers  were  created  —  often  called  "midnight  judges."  Jeffer- 
son was  furious  at  what  he  called  Adams's  indecent  conduct 
"in  crowding  of  appointments  .  .  ."after  he  knew  he  was  mak- 
ing them  .  .  .  not  for  himself,  even  to  nine  o'clock  of  the  night 
at  twelve  o'clock  of  which  he  was  to  go  out  of  office."  There- 
fore, in  the  first  session  of  the  Republican  Congress,  the  new 
judgeships  were  abolished  (1802),  and  Adams's  appointees  lost 


240  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

their  places.  When  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  Marbury 
vs.  Madison  (1803),  tried  to  protect  some  minor  officers,  whom 
Jefferson  had  refused  to  recognize,  Jefferson's  friends  retorted 
by  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  impeach  and  remove  Samuel 
Chase,  one  of  the  Supreme  Court  justices. 

158.  THE  LOUISIANA  QUESTION  (1763-1803) 

Jefferson  was  a  man  who  felt  strongly  the  duty  of  looking 
out  for  the  nation's  interest ;  and  he  was  greatly  aroused  by  a 
change  in  the  ownership  of  Louisiana.  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
(§  I53)  was  Just  then  at  peace  with  Great  Britain,  and  formed 
a  scheme  of  colonial  empire,  for  which  he  wanted  Louisiana. 

What  was  Louisiana  ?  To  answer  this  question  we  must  keep 
in  mind  that  the  regions  east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  River 
had  not  the  same  territorial  history.  Both  sides  were  claimed 
by  France  under  La  Salle's  discoveries  and  the  first  colony  of 
1699  (§§  62,  63).  In  1763  the  whole  eastern  half,  except  the 
Island  of  Orleans  (the  triangle  between  the  Mississippi,  the 
Bayou  Manchac,  and  the  Gulf,  including  New  Orleans),  was 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  and  ceased  to  be  reckoned  as  part  of 
Louisiana.  The  cession  included  the  strip  along  the  Gulf  coast 
from  the  Island  of  Orleans  to  the  river  Perdido,  to  which  the 
British  gave  the  name  of  West  Florida.  The  remainder  of 
Louisiana,  including  the  whole  western  half,  together  with  the 
Island  of  Orleans,  went  to  Spain  (§  69).  During  the  Revolu- 
tion, Spain  conquered  from  Great  Britain  part  of  West  Florida. 
In  1800,  by  the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  Napoleon  received 
back  "the  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana,  with  the  same  ex- 
tent that  it  now  has  in  the  hands  of  Spain,  and  that  it  had 
when  France  possessed  it."  The  greatest  military  power  in 
the  world  thus  again  became  the  possessor  of  both  banks  of 
the  lower  Mississippi  and  a  near  neighbor  to  the  United  States. 

The  natural  uneasiness  of  the  Americans,  when  in  1802  they 
heard  of  this  change,  was  heightened  when  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernor withdrew  the  privilege  of  sending  goods  through  New 


Purchase  of  Louishna  241 

Orleans  free  of  duty,  wh\ch  had  been  secured  by  the  treaty  of 
1795  (§  147).  Plainly,  he  meant  to  turn  over  the  province  to 
France  with  the  river  blocked  to  American  trade.  Hence  it 
was  that  Jefferson  wrote  to  Robert  R.  Livingston,  our  minister 
in  France  :  "There  is  on  the  globe  one  single  spot,  the  possessor 
of  which  is  our  natural  and  habitual  enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans. 
The  day  that  France  takes  possession  of  New  Orleans  .  .  . 
from  that  moment,  we  must  marry  ourselves  to  the  British 
fleet  and  nation." 

A  party  in  Congress  wanted  to  take  New  Orleans  by  mili- 
tary force;  and  an  act  was  passed  authorizing  80,000  volun- 
teers. Jefferson  was  cooler.  He  instructed  Livingston  to 
attempt  the  purchase  of  the  Island  of  Orleans  and  the  strip  to 
the  eastward,  between  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  and  the  Gulf.  In  January,  1803,  he  designated  his 
friend  James  Monroe  as  a  special  envoy  to  France  to  aid  Liv- 
ingston. Fortunately  for  America,  Napoleon  was  already 
tired  of  his  own  plan,  for  war  with  Great  Britain  was  about  to 
break  out  again,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  protect 
the  sea  route  to  Louisiana.  Meanwhile  he  failed  to  reconquer 
the  necessary  halfway  station  of  Haiti,  where  Toussaint  L'Ou- 
verture,  a  negro  general,  aided  by  fever,  had  the  impertinence 
to  destroy  10,000  of  his  best  troops. 

159.   PURCHASE  OF  LOUISIANA  (1803) 

Therefore,  while  Livingston  was  trying  to  buy  West  Florida 
and  New  Orleans,  suddenly  the  French  foreign  office  asked  him 
what  he  would  give  for  the  whole  of  Louisiana.  One  day  later 
Monroe  arrived,  and  the  two  ministers  did  not  hesitate  to  go 
beyond  their  instructions  by  accepting  the  offer,  but  for  some 
weeks  haggled  over  the  price.  The  treaty  was  completed  April 
30,  1803  ;  the  United  States  was  to  pay  $i  1,250,000  in  cash  and 
$3,750,000  to  American  claimants  against  the  French  govern- 
ment, a  total  of  $15,000,000;  in  return  Napoleon  ceded  all 
Louisiana,  including  the  Island  of  Orleans  and  the  whole 


242 


Purchase  of  Louisiana  243 

western  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  with  an  area  of 
885,000  square  miles.  Livingston,  Monroe,  and  Jefferson 
each  thought  that  he  was  responsible  for  this  splendid  addi- 
tion to  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  In  reality,  Louisiana 
came  like  a  plum  dropping  from  the  tree;  but  Jefferson  is 
fairly  entitled  to  the  credit  of  seeing  more  clearly  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time  the  danger  of  France  becoming  a  neighbor,  and 
the  possibilities  of  the  West. 

Since  there  was  nothing  in  the  Constitution  on  the  question 
of  annexing  territory,  Jefferson  asked  for  a  constitutional 
amendment ;  but  his  friends  found  authority  in  the  old  Fed- 
eralist doctrine  of  implied  powers,  and  the  treaty  was  promptly 
ratified.  Notwithstanding  protests  by  some  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Federalists,  the  next  step  was  to  take  possession  of  the 
new  country;  New  Orleans  was  turned  over  by  the  Spanish 
commander  to  a  French  officer  (November  30,  1803),  and 
twenty  days  thereafter  was  formally  ceded  by  the  Frenchman 
to  the  United  States;  though  the  distant  Spanish  post  of 
St.  Louis  was  not  transferred  till  March,  1804. 

The  population  of  the  new  acquisition  was  about  40,000, 
almost  entirely  settled  along  the  water  fronts  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Red  rivers.  Congress  speedily  passed  an  act  organizing 
the  lower  part  of  Louisiana  as  the  Territory  of  Orleans,  with 
an  appointed  legislature.  The  people  of  New  Orleans  were  in 
an  uproar.  They  did  not  like  the  new  laws,  the  new  language, 
or  the  new  governor,  and  Congress  good-naturedly  gave  them 
a  territorial  government  with  an  elective  legislature  (March, 
1805).  Seven  years  later  an  act  was  passed  for  the  admission 
of  this  small  part  of  the  old  province  of  Louisiana  as  "Louisi- 
ana," an  equal  state  in  the  Union  (i8th). 

The  annexation  of  Louisiana  soon  led  to  serious  boundary 
controversies  with  Spain.  The  treaty  of  1803  contained  no 
description  of  Louisiana  except  the  phrase  of  the  treaty  of 
San  Ildefonso:  "with  the  same  extent  that  it  now  has  in  the 
hands  of  Spain,  and  that  it  had  when  France  possessed  it"; 
HART'S  NF.W  AMF.R.  HIST.  — 16 


244  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

but  "in  the  hands  of  Spain"  Louisiana  did  not  include  West 
Florida;  while  "as  France  possessed  it"  Louisiana  extended 
to  the  Perdido.  The  Spanish  government  insisted  that  their 
cession  of  Louisiana  in  1800  was  not  intended  to  include  West 
Florida,  and  the  French  supported  that  contention.  Yet 
Livingston,  who  had  started  out  to  purchase  West  Florida, 
could  not  give  up  the  idea  that  he  had  secured  it  as  part  of 
Louisiana,  and  Jefferson  soon  took  up  that  belief,  which  was 
held  for  many  years. 

Spain  was  in  possession  of  the  disputed  strip,  and  refused  to 
give  it  up.  In  1810  the  United  States  annexed  part  of  the 
region,  and  in  1811  Congress  passed  a  secret  act  authorizing 
the  President  to  take  East  Florida  also;  but  it  was  not  till  1813 
that  the  whole  even  of  the  West  Florida  claim  was  occupied. 

160.   REACHING  OUT  FOR  OREGON  (1792-1811) 

Jefferson  was  the  first  man  to  see  the  possibilities  on  the 
northwestern  Pacific  coast,  where  in  1792  Captain  Gray,  in 
the  ship  Columbia  of  Boston,  had  found  the  mouth  of  a  great 
river,  and  named  it  for  his  ship.  As  soon  as  Jefferson  became 
President,  he  induced  Congress  to  provide  for  an  overland 
expedition  to  this  Oregon  country,  under  the  command  of 
William  Clark  and  Meriwether  Lewis,  Jefferson's  private  sec- 
retary. By  the  time  this  expedition  left  St.  Louis  (May  14, 
1804),  the  whole  Missouri  valley  had  become  part  of  the  United 
States,  by  the  annexation  of  Louisiana.  In  the  course  of  six 
months,  the  party  of  45  men  ascended  the  Missouri  1600  miles. 
They  camped  all  winter,  and  in  the  spring  of  1805,  31  of  them 
started  northwest,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Indian  "Bird 
Woman,"  who  carried  her  child  on  her  back.  In  August,  1805, 
they  reached  a  point  on  the  Missouri  River  where  a  man  could 
bestride  it ;  and  then  they  struck  across  the  mountains  on  horse- 
back and  found  a  westward-flowing  river ;  following  down,  they 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River  (November  15,  1805), 
4000  miles  from  St.  Louis. 


Burr  Insurrection  245 

This  expedition  through  a  country  absolutely  unknown  to 
white  men,  opened  up  half  a  continent ;  and  it  was  the  second 
link  (following  Gray's  discovery)  in  the  chain  that  bound 
Oregon  to  the  United  States.  Eventually  it  gave  the  United 
States  a  Pacific  sea  front,  and  opened  a  broad  window  toward 
the  Pacific  islands  and  Asia.  In  1811  John  Jacob  Astor  forged 


EXPLORATIONS  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK,  AND  PIKE. 
the  third  link  of  our  possession  by  establishing  a  fur-trading 
post  at  Astoria,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia. 

Meanwhile,  in  1806,  Lieutenant  Zebulon  Pike,  with  a  com- 
mand of  United  States  troops,  approached  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  Louisiana  in  an  exploration  up  the  Mississippi  River  to 
find  its  source.  On  another  expedition  he  made  his  way  west- 
ward overland,  discovered  Pikes  Peak,  and  came  out  beyond 
our  boundaries  in  New  Mexico. 

161.   BURR  INSURRECTION  (1806) 

Another  difficulty  arose  in  Louisiana  in  1806  through  the 
ambition  of  Aaron  Burr.  His  willingness  to  accept  the  pres- 
idency in  1 80 1  (§  154)  was  never  forgiven  by  Jefferson;  and  in 
the  presidential  election  of  1804  George  Clinton  of  New  York 
was  put  in  his  place  for  Vice  President.  Jefferson  and  Clinton 
swept  the  country;  the  Federalist  candidates  got  only  14 


246  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

electoral  votes.  Meanwhile  Burr  was  defeated  as  independent 
candidate  for  governor  of  New  York,  and  laid  this  defeat  to 
Alexander  Hamilton.  Burr,  therefore,  forced  a  duel  on  Hamil- 
ton and  killed  him. 

When  his  term  as  Vice  President  expired  in  1805,  Burr  was 
a  desperate  man.  Being  indicted  for  the  murder  of  Hamilton, 
he  thought  it  prudent  to  go  west  for  a  time,  and  returned  with 
vague  schemes  for  settling  or  conquering  a  region  in  the  South- 
west on,  or  more  probably  beyond,  the  Spanish  boundary. 
He  raised  a  few  score  men,  and  floated  down  the  Ohio  River 
(December,  1806)  into  the  Mississippi.  His  friend,  and,  as 
he  hoped,  his  partner,  James  Wilkinson,  general  of  the  United 
States  army,  played  him  false.  Hastily  making  an  agreement 
that  the  Sabine  River  should  be  the  temporary  boundary  of 
Louisiana,  Wilkinson  hurried  to  New  Orleans,  arrested  some  of 
Burr's  followers,  and  forwarded  to  Jefferson  a  letter  from  Burr 
which  proposed  to  seize  New  Orleans,  where  "there  would  be 
some  confiscation."  Jefferson  had  been  waiting  to  see  how 
far  Burr  would  go ;  he  now  issued  a  proclamation  against  him, 
and  had  him  arrested  and  sent  east  to  stand  trial  for  treason. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  ruled  that  there  was  no  evidence  of 
treason,  and,  to  the  wrath  of  the  President,  Burr  went  free; 
but  he  never  could  enter  public  life  again. 

162.  IMPRESSMENTS  AND  CAPTURES  (1803-1805) 

After  a  renewal  of  the  European  war  in  1803,  interference 
with  American  neutral  trade  began  again.  The  British  justified 
their  harsh  measures  on  the  ground  that  the  Americans  indulged 
in  three  forms  of  sharp  practice:  (i)  Deserters  from  British 
ships  of  war  were  welcomed  to  employment  on  Yankee  mer- 
chantmen. (2)  American  ships  frequently  carried  two  or  three 
different  sets  of  ship's  papers,  to  make  themselves  out  some- 
thing different  from  what  they  were,  so  as  to  avoid  capture. 
(3)  The  Americans,  through  their  ports,  carried  on  trade  from 
French  colonial  ports  to  France. 


Crisis  of  Neutral  Trade  247 

To  meet  these  real,  or  fancied  difficulties,  the  British  began 
to  capture  or  search  American  vessels,  often  for  reasons  not 
urged  earlier:  (i)  By  the  new  doctrine  of  "continuous  voy- 
ages," their  courts  held  that  the  profitable  trade  in  West  India 
sugar  brought  to  the  United  States,  unloaded,  and  then  re- 
shipped  to  Spain  or  France,  was  subject  to  capture.  (2)  Ves- 
sels which  had  carried  a  doubtful  cargo  going  out,  were  captured 
on  their  way  home  with  innocent  cargoes.  In  order  to  enforce 
these  new  principles,  British  men-of-war  cruised  up  and  down 
the  American  coast,  and  captured  American  vessels  outside  the 
ports  to  which  they  belonged.  (3)  Impressments  began  again 
on  a  large  scale,  for  the  hard,  underpaid,  and  often  cruel  naval 
service  of  Great  Britain  caused  hundreds  of  sailors  to  desert. 

163.   CRISIS  OF  NEUTRAL  TRADE  (1806-1807) 

Against  all  these  outrages  the  United  States  government 
remonstrated ;  but  Jefferson  wanted  to  keep  the  peace,  and 
instead  of  building  warships  he  induced  Congress  to  spend 
$1,600,000  in  building  and  maintaining  a  flotilla  of  small  gun- 
boats for  coast  defense.  In  1804  the  commercial  clauses  of 
the  Jay  treaty  of  1794  by  agreement  were  allowed  to  expire,  and 
Great  Britain  would  not  grant  as  good  terms  again ;  therefore 
we  had  no  commercial  treaty  at  all.  To  compel  Great  Britain 
to  come  to  terms,  Congress  enacted  a  "Nonimportation  Act," 
—  practically  the  old  Association  of  1774  over  again  (§  86),  — 
which  never  took  effect. 

Napoleon  still  hoped  by  combining  the  fleets  of  France  and 
Spain  to  check  the  British  sea  power;  but  in  1805  the  splendid 
genius  of  Admiral  Nelson  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar  destroyed 
the  allied  fleet,  and  left  Great  Britain  supreme  at  sea.  The 
resourceful  emperor  of  the  French  then  set  up  what  was  called 
the  "Continental  System,"  by  which  all  the  numerous  allies 
of  France  agreed  not  to  purchase  any  British  goods. 

Great  Britain  retaliated  in  1806  and  1807  with  Orders  in 
Council,  setting  up  "paper  blockades"  on  the  French  coast. 


248  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

Napoleon  replied  by  the  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees  (November, 
1806,  December,  1807),  forbidding  all  trade  to  the  British  islands 
or  in  British  goods.  The  worst  sufferers  from  this  furious  war 
of  documents  were  the  American  shipowners,  yet  they  were 
the  people  who  least  wanted  war.  Although,  between  1803 
and  1811,  the  British  took  917  American  vessels,  and  the  French 
took  558,  the  profits  of  the  neutral  trade  were  so  great  that  the 
American  tonnage  engaged  in  foreign  trade  almost  doubled. 

The  difficulty  reached  its  crisis  in  June,  1807,  when  the 
United  States  ship  Chesapeake  was  stopped  on  the  high  seas 
off  Cape  Henry  by  the  British  frigate  Leopard,  so  that  some 
deserters  from  the  British  navy  who  had  enlisted  on  board  the 
American  ship  might  be  taken  off.  The  Chesapeake,  though  in 
international  usage  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States, 
was  fired  upon  and  disabled,  and  three  American-born  sailors 
were  then  seized,  besides  one  English  deserter. 

164.  THE  EMBARGO  (1807-1809) 

The  accumulation  of  injuries  called  for  action  of  some  kind. 
Negotiation  had  failed ;  Great  Britain  would  neither  make  a 
treaty  nor  give  any  satisfaction  for  the  Leopard  outrage.  The 
United  States  might  fight,  but  war  would  cut  off  American 
trade  almost  altogether.  To  yield  and  say  nothing  meant 
to  give  up  abjectly  the  rights  of  an  independent  nation.  Jef- 
ferson's ingenious  mind  found  a  way  out  of  this  apparently 
impassable  bog  by  the  Embargo  Act  (December  22,  1807), 
prohibiting  the  sailing  of  any  ship  carrying  a  cargo  from  the 
United  States  to  foreign  ports.  Jefferson  was  sure  that  both 
France  and  Great  Britain  would  come  to  terms  if  the  American 
food  products  and  other  exports  were  cut  off.  On  the  contrary, 
Napoleon  simply  confiscated  American  vessels  in  French  ports, 
because,  he  argued,  they  must  have  violated  the  American  em- 
bargo ;  and  the  British,  though  they  felt  the  loss  of  American 
exports,  held  out  stubbornly. 

The  people  who  suffered  most  and  who  made  the  most  ado 


Review  249 

were  the  Americans.  The  New  England,  middle,  and  southern 
states  were  all  heavy  exporters,  and  as  the  year  1808  wore  on, 
thousands  of  people  found  their  livelihood  taken  away.  Ships 
moldered  at  the  wharves,  wheat  rotted  in  the  warehouses; 
the  peace-loving  Jefferson  found  his  temper  rising,  as  the  peo- 
ple, especially  the  New  Englanders,  slipped  out  of  port  or  de- 
fiantly carried  their  goods  over  the  Canadian  boundary.  At  the 
end  of  fourteen  months,  the  country,  especially  New  England, 
would  bear  no  more;  and  against  Jefferson's  private  remon- 
strance, Congcess  repealed  the  Embargo  Act  (March  i,  1809). 

165.   REVIEW 

JetTerson  was  a  modern  man,  interested  in  literature,  science, 
and  agriculture,  as  well  as  in  public  affairs.  He  came  into  office 
in  1 80 1,  determined  to  payoff  the  public  debt  and  to  diminish 
party  spirit.  In  spite  of  the  economy  of  Gallatin,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  he  was  obliged  to  spend  money  on  war  with 
piratical  Tripoli.  He  tried  to  equalize  parties  by  removing 
some  Federalist  officeholders,  and  his  friends  attempted  in  vain 
to  curb  the  Supreme  Court  which  assailed  his  policies. 

Jefferson's  greatest  service  to  his  country  was  the  annexation 
of  Louisiana,  which  unexpectedly  came  as  the  result  of  an  effort 
to  secure  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  This  annexation 
strengthened  the  South,  began  a  policy  of  enlarging  the  Union, 
and  at  once  led  to  boundary  disputes  with  Spain.  Before 
Louisiana  was  annexed,  Jefferson  had  started  a  government 
expedition  to  Oregon,  which  in  1805  terminated  its  overland 
journey  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  thereby  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  territorial  holding  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Jeffer- 
son skillfully  crushed  his  enemy  Aaron  Burr,  who  engaged  in  a 
vague  scheme  of  invading  the  western  country. 

Jefferson's  second  administration  (1805-1809)  was  full  of  new 
issues  and  of  disappointments,  which  were  chiefly  due  to  the 
fierceness  of  the  war  between  France  and  Great  Britain:  Both 
powers  looked  on  American  neutral  trade  as  simply  something 


250  Expansion  of  the  Republic 

that  helped  the  other  side.  Both  captured  American  merchant 
vessels  and  cargoes,  and  in  addition  Great  Britain  impressed 
American  sailors. 

The  crisis  came  when,  by  the  British  Orders  in  Council  and  the 
French  decrees  (1806-1807),  additional  unjust  captures  of  Ameri- 
can vessels  were  made,  and  when  sailors  were  taken  from  the 
deck  of  the  United  States  ship  of  war,  Chesapeake.  Jefferson's 
remedy  was  an  Embargo  (1807)  intended  to  prevent  American 
products  from  reaching  the  two  contending  powers ;  but  the 
producers  and  merchants  of  the  United  States  would  not  stand 
the  pressure,  and  the  Embargo  was  repealed  shortly  before 
the  retirement  of  Jefferson  (1809). 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  242,245. —  Avery,  U.S.,  VII. — • 
Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  287.  —  Channing,  Je/ersonian  System.  —  Coman, 
Indust.  Hist.,  173. — -Fish,  Am.  Diplomacy,  218;  Am.  Nationality,  486. 

—  Johnson,   Union   and    Democracy,   134,   185,   190. — Semple,  Geogr. 
Conditions,  93-113.  —  Shepherd,   Hist.  Atlas,  198. 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  I.  185-446,  II-IV;  John  Randolph,  i- 
233.  —  Allen,  Navy  and  Barbary  Corsairs.  —  Brady,  Stephen  Decatur, 
1-61.  —  Cable,  Creoles  of  La.,  1-160.  —  Chadwick,  U.S.  and  Spain,  1. 
chs.  iii-vii.  —  Channing,  Je/ersonian  System,  chs.  i-xvii.  —  Fish,  A  in. 
Diplomacy,  chs.  xii,  xiii;  Am.  Nationality,  ch.  vii.  —  Foster,  Century 
of  Diplomacy,  185-232. — Hosmer,  Louisiana  Purchase,  21-178. — 
Hunt,  James  Madison,  chs.  xxviii,  xxix.  —  Lighton,  Lewis  and  Clark. 

—  McCaleb,  Aaron  Burr  Conspiracy.  —  McMaster,   U.S.,  II.  583-635, 
III.  1-88,  142-338,  496-514,  V.  373-380,  418-432.  —  Mahan,  Sea  Power 
in  Rel.  to  War  of  1812,  I.  99-214.  — Merwin,  Thomas  Je/erson,  119- 
164;    Aaron    Burr,    57-147. — -Roosevelt,    Winning   of  the    West,    IV. 
258-343.  —  Schouler,   U.S.,  II.  1-229. 

Sources.  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed.  Relations,  26-44.  —  Caldwell, 
Terr.  Development,  77-108.  —  Harding,  Select  Orations,  no.  12.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  III.  §§  106-122;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III.  87-103, 
108-213. — James,  Readings,  §§52-56. — Johnson,  Readings,  §§71- 
76. — Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  4  \,  104,  105,  128,  131,  134,  174.  —  See 
New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  81  ;  Syllabus,  338- 
340. 

Illustrative.  Bennet,  Volunteer  with  Pike.  —  Bynner,  Zachary 
Phips  (Burr).  —  Cable,  Grandissimes ;  Strange  True  Stories  of  La. — 


References  and  Topics  251 

Carpenter,  Code  of  Victor  J allot.  —  Hale,  Man  Without  a  Country; 
Philip  Nolan's  Friends.  —  Hough,  Magnificent  Adventure. — Johnston, 
Lewis  Rand.  —  Scenes  at  Washington.  —  Seawell,  Decatur  and  Somers. 
Pictures.  Avery,  U.S.,  VII.  —  Sparks,  Expansion.  —  Wilson,  Am. 
People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Thomas  Jefferson  as  a  young  man,  or  at  college,  or  as  a  planter. 
[§  156]  —  (2)  Jefferson's  "republican  simplicity."  [§  156]  —  (3)  In- 
cidents of  the  Barbary  wars.  [§  156]  —  (4)  Negotiations  for  Louisiana 
in  Paris.  [§  159]  —  (5)  Adventures  of  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1804,  or 
in  1805.  [§  160]  —  (6)  Settlement  at  Astoria.  [§  160]  —  (7)  First  Ameri- 
can exploration  of  the  Pikes  Peak  region.  [§  160]  —  (8)  Burr's  visits  to 
the  West.  [§  161]  —  (9)  Attack  on  the  frigate  Chesapeake.  [§  163]  — 
(10)  Objections  to  the  Embargo.  [§  164] 


Topics  for  Further  Search 

(ii)  Officeholders  turned  out  by  Jefferson.  [§  157]  —  (12)  Why 
did  Napoleon  want  Louisiana?  [§  158]  —  (13)  Why  did  Napoleon  give 
up  Louisiana?  [§  158]  —  (14)  Why  did  the  people  of  Louisiana  object 
to  the  new  government?  [§  159]  —  (15)  Was  West  Florida  part  of 
Louisiana?  [§  159]  —  (16)  Was  Burr  a  traitor?  [§  161]  —  (17)  Jef- 
ferson's gunboat  system.  [§  163]  —  (18)  What  was  Napoleon's  Conti- 
nental System?  [§  163] 


CHAPTER  XV 


WAR  WITH   GREAT  BRITAIN   (1809-1815) 
166.   MADISON'S  DIPLOMACY  (1809-1811) 

JEFFERSON  was  glad  to  follow  Washington's  example  in  re- 
tiring from  the  presidency  at  the  end  of  his  second  term.     He 

secured  the  office  for  his 
Secretary  of  State,  James 
Madison,  who  was  elected 
President  in  1808  over 
the  Federalist  C.  C. 
Pinckney,  by  122  electoral 
votes  to  47.  Madison  no 
longer  showed  his  earlier 
spirit  (§§  117,  152),  was 
not  a  good  party  leader, 
and  his  Cabinet,  with 
the  exception  of  Gallatin, 
was  weak.  All  the  efforts 
of  President  Madison  to 
adjust  the  troubles  with 
Great  Britain  failed ;  a 
fair  treaty  was  signed 
by  the  British  minister, 
Erskine,  in  1809,  but 
Great  Britain  refused  to 
ratify  his  work.  The  next  minister,  James  Jackson,  accused 
the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  of  lying,  and  noted  in  his 
private  correspondence  that  "a  more  despicable  set  I  never 
252 


DOLLY  MADISON,  ABOTT  1810.  (Mrs. 
James  Madison,  a  famous  social  leader. 
From  the  portrait  by  Stuart.) 


Coming  on  of  War  253 

met  with  before,"  which  was  his  way  of  complaining  because 
the  United  States  government  absolutely  refused  to  have  any 
more  dealings  with  him  ;  but  he  was  received  and  welcomed  by 
New  England  Federalists. 

Congress  had  no  better  success.  It  passed  a  "Non-Inter- 
course Act"  (March  i,  1809),  prohibiting  commerce  with 
France  and  Great  Britain,  but  the  commerce  went  on  indi- 
rectly. In  1810,  by  the  "Macon  Bill  No.  2,"  Congress  feebly 
attempted  to  play  off  one  enemy  against  another.  Napoleon 
in  August,  1810,  publicly  announced,  "His  Majesty  loves  the 
Americans;  their  prosperity  and  their  commerce  are  within 
the  scope  of  his  policy" ;  on  the  same  day  he  showed  his  affec- 
tion by  a  secret  decree  ordering  the  confiscation  of  all  American 
ships  in  his  ports. 

167.   COMING  ON  OF  WAR  (1811-1812) 

Upon  the  western  frontier,  two  Indian  leaders  had  arisen  — 
the  brothers  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet.  Tecumseh  was  per- 
haps the  greatest  Indian  in  American  history,  because  he  was 
the  only  one  to  grasp  the  idea  of  throwing  the  whites  buck  by 
forming  a  confederation  of  all  the  frontier  tribes  from  north  to 
south.  He  succeeded  in  controlling  5000  warriors,  a  force 
which,  if  it  would  only  act  together,  could  defeat  any  army  that 
the  United  States  was  able  on  short  notice  to  bring  into  the 
field. 

In  1811,  while  Tecumseh  was  absent,  William  Henry  Harri- 
son, governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  forced  the  fight  by  marching 
with  1000  men  against  the  Indian  town  of  Tippecanoe,  on 
the  Wabash  River.  Harrison  took  it  and  burned  it.  A  few 
months  later  war  broke  out  on  the  southern  frontier,  where 
Fort  Mimms,  near  the  Alabama  River,  was  captured  by  the 
Creeks  and  about  500  people  were  killed.  General  Andrew 
Jackson  was  put  in  command  of  the  southwestern  troops,  and 
in  several  campaigns  during  1813  and  1814  nearly  crushed  out 
the  opposing  Indians. 


254  War  with  Great  Britain 

Meanwhile  the  public  feeling  of  wrath  and  indignation 
steadily  rose  against  France,  and  still  more  against  England. 
In  the  new  Congress,  which  met  in  December,  1811,  Henry 
Clay  of  Kentucky  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House ;  he 
organized  it  with  a  view  to  war,  and  made  young  John,C. 


THE  WAR  OF  1812. 

Calhoun,  of   South   Carolina,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs. 

War  had  at  last  become  popular  in  the  majority  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  which  controlled  both  houses.  The  West  had  no 
patience  with  the  timidity  of  the  shipowners,  for  to  the  frontiers- 
men nothing  seemed  easier  than  to  conquer  Canada,  and,  as 
Clay  said,  to  "negotiate  the  terms  of  a  peace  at  Quebec  or 
Halifax."  The  country  was  then  prosperous ;  manufactures 
were  springing  up,  and  nearly  $200,000,000  worth  of  goods 


Land  and  Sea  Campaigns  of  1812  255 

were  made  in  the  country  in  a  single  year.  But  the  "War 
Hawks"  in  Congress  did  not  consider  that  the  national  revenues 
were  falling  off,  that  the  army  numbered  only  7000  men,  and 
that  there  were  no  good  roads  to  the  Canadian  frontier. 

President  Madison  could  not  stand  the  pressure,  and  war  was 
formally  declared  against  Great  Britain,  June  18,  1812.  The 
official  reasons  for  the  war  were  as  follows:  (i)  the  insolence 
of  the  British  cruisers  on  the  coast;  (2)  the  capture  of  over 
900  American  vessels  since  1803 ;  (3)  blockades  and  other 
unrighteous  practices  under  the  British  Orders  in  Council; 
(4)  the  stirring  up  of  Indian  hostilities;  (5)  impressment. 
An  apology  had  been  made  for  the  Chesapeake  affair;  at  the 
last  moment  the  British  partly  withdrew  the  offensive  orders ; 
and  we  now  know  that  it  was  an  error  to  suppose  that  the 
British  government  instigated  the  Indian  wars.  Nevertheless, 
two  substantial  grievances  remained  —  the  capture  of  our 
merchantmen  and  the  impressment  of  about  4000  seamen, 
of  whom  many  were  still  prisoners  on  British  cruisers. 

The  real  reason  for  the  war  was  a  sense  of  indignation  at  the 
overbearing  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  shown  not  only  in  the 
search  and  capture  of  vessels  but  in  the  refusal  to  withdraw  the 
Orders  in  Council  and  in  the  contemptuous  tone  of  such  diplo- 
mats as  Jackson.  The  British  felt  that  they  were  fighting  for 
the  freedom  of  mankind  against  a  despot,  and  that  the  American 
claims  to  neutral  trade  and  seamen's  rights  were  simply  methods 
of  preventing  the  British  from  destroying  Napoleon's  power. 
They  looked  on  the  American  claim  of  the  right  to  change  al- 
legiance, which  was  part  of  the  contest  with  regard  to  impress- 
ments, as  a  new  and  dangerous  idea. 

168.  LAND  AND  SEA  CAMPAIGNS  OF  1812 

The  Americans  set  out  to  decide  the  war  by  a  single  land 
campaign,  and  their  campaign  began  in  an  effort  of  General 
Hull  to  seize  the  part  of  Canada  north  of  Lake  Erie.  The  tables 
were  unexpectedly  turned  when  the  British  captured  Detroit 


256  War  with  Great  Britain 

(August,  1812)  after  an  ignoble  defense  by  Hull.  The  Ameri- 
cans then  made  two  attempts  to  penetrate  Canada  across  the 
Niagara  River ;  both  were  utter  failures  because  the  American 
troops  had  no  discipline  and  no  confidence  in  their  officers. 


THE  FRIGATE  CONSTITUTION. 

The  country  discovered  all  at  once  that  it  had  made  no  proper 
preparation  for  a  land  war. 

Hence  there  was  great  joy  when  news  of  naval  victories  began 
to  pour  in.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  United  States  navy 
consisted  of  sixteen  vessels,  of  which  the  largest  was  a  handy 
44-gun  frigate.  President  Madison  expected  that  the  little 
fleet  would  surely  be  captured ;  nevertheless,  when  our  frigate 


The  Indecisive  Year  257 

Constitution  fell  in  with  the  Guerrierc,  a  ship  of  about  her  ton- 
nage, in  thirty  minutes  the  Guerriere  lay  a  helpless  wreck 
(August,  1812).  Two  months  later,  the  \Yasp  took  the  British 
brig  Frolic;  and  the  frigate  United  States  captured,  and  subse- 
quently brought  into  port,  the  British  frigate  Macedonian. 
Then  the  Constitution  made  another  splendid  capture,  the 
frigate  Java.  During  the  year  the  only  loss  of  the  Americans 
was  the  Wasp,  taken  by  a  British  three-decker  battleship. 
In  all,  sixteen  British  ships  of  war  were  captured,  besides  those 
on  the  Lakes.  In  vain  did  the  British  attempt  to  show  that  the 
American  ships  in  every  case  had  more  tonnage,  or  more  men, 
or  more  weight  of  broadside.  The  British  navy  had  not  been 
accustomed  to  calculate  odds  so  closely ;  in  fact  nearly  every 
capture  was  due  to  the  superior  guns  and  marksmanship  of 
the  Americans. 

169.  THE  INDECISIVE  YEAR  (1813) 

The  tide  of  naval  victory  changed  in  1813,  notwithstanding 
several  other  gallant  captures  of  British  cruisers.  The  Ameri- 
can frigate  Chesapeake  was  taken  by  the  Shannon  (May  30) ; 
and  by  the  end  of  1813  most  of  the  American  cruisers  were 
driven  into  port  and  there"  blockaded.  Then  the  President 
was  captured ;  but  the  frigate  Essex,  Captain  Porter,  found  its 
way  into  the  Pacific  and  made  havoc  of  the  British  whalers, 
till  captured  in  Chilean  waters  in  1814.  The  land  war  was 
renewed  on  the  Canadian  frontier,  but  here  the  principal  gains 
were  on  the  boundary. lakes.  Lieutenant  Oliver  H.  Perry  was 
sent  to  Lake  Erie  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  recapture  of  Detroit. 
With  wonderful  energy  he  constructed  a  fleet  of  five  vessels, 
trained  his  crews,  and  on  September  10,  1813,  met  the  attack  of 
the  enemy  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  off  Put-in-Bay.  He  re- 
ported his  victory  in  the  laconic  letter,  "We  have  met  the 
enemy  and  they  are  ours :  two  ships,  two  brigs,  one  schooner, 
and  one  sloop." 

Perry's  victory  cleared  the  way  for  a  successful  campaign 


258  War  with  Great  Britain 

in  western  Canada.  General  William  H.  Harrison  defeated  the 
Canadians  and  their  Indian  allies  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames 
in  Canadian  territory  (October  5,  1813),  where  Tecumseh  was 
killed.  Renewed  attempts  to  invade  eastern  Canada,  under 
General  Wilkinson,  were  again  a  failure ;  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year  1813  the  war  was  a  sort  of  drawn  game  —  each  side 
occupying  substantially  the  territory  which  it  held  at  the 
beginning. 

170.  ON  THE  DEFENSIVE  (1814) 

So  far  the  British  had  sent  few  troops  to  aid  Canada.  Their 
energy  was  devoted  chiefly  to  the  war  against  Napoleon,  who 
made  his  disastrous  retreat  from  Russia  in  1812.  In  1814, 
however,  Napoleon  was  overwhelmed  and  compelled  to  abdi- 
cate. Large  British  forces  by  land  and  sea  were  thus  set  free 
and  began  to  make  a  series  of  invasions  of  the  United  States : 

(1)  The  British  occupied  the  coast  of  Maine  as  far  as  the  Ken- 
nebec   River,    and    blockaded   most   of    the   American    coast. 

(2)  A  small  British  force  was  sent  to  seize  Astoria,  Oregon. 

(3)  In  August,  a  British  force  of  only  5000  troops  landed  about 
fifty  miles  from  Washington  on  Chesapeake  Bay,  marched  up 
into  a  country  inhabited  by  at  least  50,000  able-bodied  men, 
beat  off  an  ill-commanded  force  hastily  summoned  to  repel 
them,  and  took  and  burned  the  capital  of  the  United  States  — 
as  an  alleged  retaliation  for  destruction  in  York  (now  Toronto) 
by  American  forces.     (4)  A  similar  attack   on  Baltimore  in 
September,  which  suggested  Key's  patriotic  poem,  The  Star- 
Spangled  Banner,   was   beaten   off  by   the   American   militia. 
(5)  A  British  force  attempting  to  advance  southward  up  Lake 
Champlain  was  stopped  (September,  1814),  partly  by  a  fleet 
unde-  Commander  MacDonough,  partly  by  the  presence  of 
militia  intrenched  at  Plattsburg,  under  Macomb. 

In  a  last  attempt  to  invade  Canada,  the  Americans  crossed 
the  Niagara  River  and  fought  two  battles,  at  Chippewa  and 
at  Lundys  Lane  (July  15,  1814) ;  but  they  again  retreated  to 


Humiliation  of  the  War  259 

their  own  territory.  The  closing  incident  of  the  war  was  an 
attack  on  the  Gulf  coast  by  General  Pakenham.  General 
Andrew  Jackson  fortified  himself  at  Chalmette,  just  below  New 
Orleans,  and  there  (January  8,  1815),  the  British  column  of 
5300  troops  assaulted  his  works,  defended  by  about  4000  troops, 
of  whom  only  a  third  were  actually  engaged.  The  American 
militia,  however,  were  well  commanded  and  intrenched,  and 
they  beat  off  the  British  army,  inflicting  a  loss  of  2000. 

171.   HUMILIATION  OF  THE  WAR 

The  victory  of  Jackson  left  in  the  minds  of  Americans  the 
notion  that  they  had  repeated  the  experience  of  the  Revolution 
by  defeating  the  veteran  troops  of  Great  Britain ;  and  that 
they  could  always  depend  upon  militia  to  spring  to  the  defense 
of  their  country  when  needed.  So  far  as  the  sea  fights  were 
concerned,  the  early  war  was  a  brilliant  victory  for  the  Ameri- 
cans; but  as  the  months  went  on,  every  American  cruiser 
was  either  captured,  sunk,  or  helplessly  blockaded  in  a  home 
port.  For  a  time,  there  was  not  an  American  commissioned  ship 
of  war  on  the  ocean.  Nevertheless  the  naval  war  was  con- 
tinued with  brilliancy  and  success  by  a  swarm  of  American 
privateers.  American  shipowners,  whose  vessels  could  no 
longer  with  safety  carry  a  cargo,  turned  them  into  private 
fighting  ships,  which  often  richly  paid  for  themselves  out 
of  their  prizes.  In  three  years  about  1700  American  mer- 
chant ships  were  taken  by  the  British;  on  the  other  hand, 
2300  British  merchantmen  were  taken  by  privateers,  besides 
200  by  cruisers,  though  750  were  retaken  by  the  British;  and 
the  insurance  on  a  voyage  from  England  to  Ireland  rose  to 
14  per  cent.  Dismay  spread  through  the  maritime  interest  of 
England.  As  the  London  Times  said  of  the  American  ships, 
"If  they  fight,  they  are  sure  to  conquer;  if  they  fly,  they 
are  sure  to  escape." 

In  the  land  war,  the  three  clear  American  victories  were 
the  battle  of  the  Thames,  though  Harrison  could  not  hold  the 
MART'S  NKW  AMER.  HIST.  —  17 


260  War  with  Great  Britain 

territory  thus  gained ;  Macomb's  repulse  of  the  British  at  Lake 
Champlain,  from  which  the  United  States  gained  no  territory ; 
and  the  victory  of  Jackson,  although  it  did  not  drive  the  British 
off  the  coast.  The  United  States  could  hardly  be  called  vic- 
torious when  the  British  captured  part  of  Maine,  took  our  only 
holding  in  Oregon,  and  destroyed  the  capital  city,  almost  without 
opposition. 

Throughout,  there  was  no  lack  of  men  for  the  American  serv- 
ice. During  the  course  of  the  war  529,000  individuals  joined 
the  American  forces,  but  most  of  them  were  raw  militia,  with- 
out trained  officers  and  without  any  experience  in  actual  war 
against  trained  troops,  and  only  130,000  served  as  much  as  six 
months.  Congress  was  never  willing  to  authorize  a  proper 
federal  army,  and  at  one  time  volunteering  fell  off  till  plans 
were  made  for  conscripting  men  by  a  draft.  As  in  the  Revo- 
lution (§  89)  a  national  army  of  20,000  or  25,000  men,  armed, 
equipped,  officered,  and  disciplined  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  alone,  might  have  done  what  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  militia  could  not  do.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
War  Department  was  in  a  scandalously  inefficient  condition. 
Some  of  the  commanders  like  Hull  were  old  Revolutionary 
soldiers  who  had  forgotten  how  to  fight.  The  only  land  officers 
that  came  out  of  the  war  with  national  reputation  were  Harri- 
son, Jackson,  Jacob  Brown,  and  young  Winfield  Scott,  who  had 
shown  decided  pluck  at  the  battle  of  Lundys  Lane.  Secretary 
Armstrong,  himself  a  Revolutionary  veteran,  was  compelled 
to  resign  when  the  capture  of  Washington  proved  his  incapacity. 
He  was  succeeded  by  James  Monroe,  who  was  one  of  the  few 
administrators  to  show  courage  and  ability.  The  United  States 
paid  a  terrible  penalty  for  going  into  a  war  without  making 
preparations  beforehand. 

172.  INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  WAR  (1812-1814) 

One  reason  for  the  mortifications  of  the  land  campaigns  was 
the  political  opposition  at  home.  In  1811  a  New  England 


Favorable  .Peace  261 

member  of  Congress,  Josiah  Quincy,  roundly  threatened  that 
New  England  would  secede  if  Louisiana  were  made  a  state, 
thus  increasing  the  power  of  the  South.  As  a  protest  against 
the  war,  part  of  the  Republicans  under  De  Witt  Clinton  made 
common  cause  with  the  Federalist  opposition  in  the  election  of 
1812,  and  the  coalition  got  89  electoral  votes  to  128  for  Madison. 
This  personal  and  party  opposition  was  carried  into  official  form. 
When  the  President  of  the  United  States  called  upon  all  the  states 
for  a  certain  number  of  militia,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  Vermont  refused  to  send  them. 

There  was  some  reason  for  protest  and  indignation.  Con- 
gress neglected  to  provide  either  men  or  money  enough,  to  keep 
the  war  going.  No  proper  tax  laws  were  passed  till  1813, 
when  the  hated  Federalist  excise  and  direct  taxes  were  re- 
vived. The  government  borrowed  $98,000,000  during  the  war, 
but  the  bonds  had  to  be  sold  at  a  depreciation  of  from  5  per 
cent  to  30  per  cent;  large  amounts  of  "treasury  notes "- 
promises  to  pay  in  the  future  —  had  to  be  issued  for  sup- 
plies ;  and  legal  tender  paper  money  was  openly  suggested. 

The  critical  time  came  when  New  England  began  to  feel 
the  blockade  and  the  war  taxes.  In  December,  1814,  a  con- 
vention of  official  delegates  from  several  New  England  states 
met  at  Hartford.  We  know  little  of  the  secret  debates  of  the 
convention,  but  its  official  report  proposed  that  Congress  should 
give  up  its  power  to  prohibit  foreign  commerce,  and  should 
leave  the  proceeds  of  federal  taxes  to  the  states  in  which  they 
were  paid.  Such  demands  could  not  be  granted  without  giv- 
ing up  the  federal  Constitution ;  and  they  amounted  to  saying 
that  unless  the  war  were  speedily  stopped,  the  New  England 
states  would  withdraw  from  the  Union. 

173.   FAVORABLE  PEACE  (1814) 

One  reason  for  the  delusion  that  the  War  of  1812  was  highly 
successful,  was  the  favorable  peace  which  was  made  at  Ghent 
(December  24,  1814),  before  the  report  of  the  Hartford  Conven- 


262  War  with  Great  Britain 

tion,  and  before  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  Negotiations  be- 
gan within  a  few  months  after  the  war  broke  out,  and  the  com- 
missioners sent  to  Ghent  by  the  British  government  were  unex- 
pectedly willing  to  stop  the  war.  The  European  struggle  now 
seemed  to  be  over,  and  when  the  great  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
consulted  about  the  American  war,  he  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  would  take  a  large  force  to  drive  the  American  militia 
out  of  their  trenches.  At  sea,  the  devastations  of  the  American 
privateers  caused  the  British  shipmasters  to  clamor  for  relief. 
Hence,  the  British  commissioners  at  last  gave  way  on  one 
point  after  another: 

(1)  They  agreed  to  give  up  all  their  territorial  conquests, 
and  to  go  back  to  the  boundaries  of  1812. 

(2)  They  again  promised  not  to  take  away  slaves  or  other 
private  property  (§  108)  when  they  evacuated  those  territories. 

(3)  Since  the  war  had  put  an  end  to  all  outstanding  treaties, 
for  a  time  the  fisheries  and  conditions  of  commerce  were  left 
at  loose  ends,  but  after  a  few  months  they  were  both  settled  by 
separate  treaties  favorable  to  the  United  States. 

The  only  subject  on  which  satisfaction  could  not  be  had  was 
impressments  —  the  main  cause  of  the  war ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
European  war  was  over,  impressments  ceased  of  themselves 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  never  began  again. 

174.   REVIEW 

From  1809  on,  Congress  tried  various  remedies  short  of  war, 
but  could  not  bring  Great  Britain  or  France  to  terms,  by  any 
form  of  restriction  of  commerce.  An  attack  in  the  frontier 
country  of  Indiana  by  the  Indians,  erroneously  supposed  to  be 
urged  on  by  the  British,  aroused  public  sentiment.  In  1812 
war  was  declared  by  the  United  States  against  Great  Britain. 
At  the  last  moment  the  British  withdrew  a  part  of  the  offensive 
Orders  in  Council ;  but  nothing  could  be  done  to  stop  impress- 
ments, which  was  the  chief  remaining  grievance  when  war  broke 
out. 


References  263 

From  one  point  of  view  the  war  was  a  great  humiliation  to  the 
United  States.  All  the  efforts  to  invade  Canada  from  Detroit, 
Niagara,  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River  were  distressing  failures, 
notwithstanding  the  great  superiority  of  numbers  of  the  United 
States  troops.  The  only  creditable  operations  on  the  northern 
frontier  were  the  battles  of  Lake  Erie,  the  Thames,  Lundys 
Lane,  and  Plattsburg;  and  the  British  finally  succeeded  in 
occupying  a  great  part  of  Maine,  and  Astoria  on  the  Pacific, 
and  captured  and  burned  Washington. 

On  the  other  side,  the  little  navy  of  the  United  States  won  a 
great  success  by  beating  the  English  in  repeated  duels  and  by 
capturing  hundreds  of  British  merchantmen.  The  Americans 
won  victories  on  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Champlain.  After  peace 
was  made  came  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  which  was  a  notable 
victory  for  the  Americans. 

The  war  was  very  unpopular  in  the  middle  states  and  espe- 
cially in  New  England.  Several  states  refused  to  allow  their 
militia  to  take  part.  In  1814,  at  the  Hartford  Convention, 
suggestions  were  made  that  New  England  ought  to  secede. 
The  favorable  Peace  of  Ghent  (1814)  not  only  put  an  end  to 
the  war,  but  silenced  the  sectional  jealousies;  and  the  war 
left  a  feeling  of  national  pride. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  242,  254.  —  Babcock,  Rise  of 
Am.  Nationality,  6,  88,  136,  276.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  114. — 
Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  208.  —  Lucas,  Canadian  War.  — 
Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  200. 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  V-VIII,  IX.  1-103.  —  Babcock,  Rise  of 
Am.  Nationality,  chs.  i-x.  —  Bassett,  Andrew  Jackson,  I.  chs.  vi-xiii.  — 
Brady,  Stephen  Decatur,  62-137.  — Brown,  Andrew  Jackson,  25-248.  — 
Clark,  U.  S.  Navy,  chs.  vi-xii.  —  Eggleston  and  Seeley,  Tecumseh 
and  the  Shawnee  Prophet.  —  Fish,  Am.  Diplomacy,  chs.  xiv,  xv;  Am. 
Nationality,  ch.  viii.  —  Hollis,  Frigate  Constitution.  —  Hunt,  James 
Madison,  chs.  xxx-xxxiv.  —  Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  chs. 
xi,  xii.  —  Lucas,  Canadian  War  of  1812.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  III. 
339-458,  528-560,  IV.  1-279.  —  Maclay,  U.S.  Navy,  I.  305-658, 


264  War  with  Great  Britain 

II.  3-22.  —  Mahan,  Sea  Power  in  Rel.  to  War  of  1812,  I.  215-423,  II. 

—  Morison,    H.  G.    Otis,  II.    chs.  xix-xxviii. — Roosevelt,    Naval   War 
of  1812.  —  Schouler,   U.S.,  II.  279-447. —  Smith,    Wars,    203-250. — 
Updyke,  Dipl.  of  the  War  of  1812. 

Sources.  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed.  Rels.,  45-88.  —  Bogart  and 
Thompson,  Readings,  217,  490.  —  Caldwell  and  Persinger,  Source  Hist., 
323~334-  —  Harding,  Select  Orations,  no.  13.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries, 

III.  §§  123-129;    Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III.  215—317;    Source  Book, 
§§82-87. — Johnson,   Readings,  §§  81-86. — Johnston,  Am.  Orations, 
I.  164-215.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  28-32.  —  See   New  Engl. 
Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  82 ;   Syllabus,  340. 

Illustrative.  Altsheler,  Herald  of  the  West  (Washington  and  New 
Orleans).  —  Crowley,  Love  thrives  in  War.  —  E.  Eggleston,  Roxy  (Tippe- 
canoe).  —  G.  C.  Eggleston,  Am.  War  Ballads,  I.  113-145.  —  Matthews, 
Poems  of  Am.  Patriotism,  83-107.  —  Munroe,  Midshipman  Stuart.  — 
Post,  Smith  Brunt.  —  Pyle,  Within  the  Capes.  —  Read,  By  the  Eternal 
(New  Orleans).  —  Seawell,  Midshipman  Paulding. 

Pictures.  Lossing,  Field  Book  of  the  War  of  1812. — Mentor,  serial 
no.  103.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 
(i)  Influence  of  Tecumseh.  [§  167]  —  (2)  Battle  at  Tippecanoe. 
[§  !<>7]  —  (3)  Henry  Clay,  or  John  C.  Calhoun,  as  a  boy  and  young 
man.  [§  167]  —  (4)  The  capture  of  one  of  the  following  ships  :  Guerriere; 
Frolic;  Macedonian;  Java.  [§  168]  —  (5)  The  capture  of  one  of  the 
following  American  ships  :  Wasp;  Chesapeake;  Essex;  Pres ide>it.[§  169] 

—  (6)  Contemporary  accounts  of  the  battle  of  Put-in-Bay.    [§  169]  — 
(7)   British  occupation  of  the  coast  of  Maine.  [§  170]  —  (8)  Jackson's 
New   Orleans   campaign.  [§  170]  —  (9)  Adventures  of  Winfield  Scott 
in  the  War  of  1812.  [§171]  —  (10)   Public  services  of  De  Witt  Clinton. 
[§  172] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  James  Madison  in  Congress;  or  as  Secretary  of  State;  or  as 
President.  [§  166]— (12)  What  was  the  "  Macon  Bill  No.  2"?  [§  166]  — 

(13)  Was  there  sufficient    reason   for   the  War  of   1812?     [§    167]  — 

(14)  Why  did  the  campaigns  fail  on  the  Niagara  frontier?  [§  168]  — 

(15)  Why  were  the  Americans  so  successful  at  sea?  [§  168]  —  (16)   Why 
was   Washington   captured   by    the   British?   [§   170]  — (17)   Account 
of  the   Hartford   Convention.   [§   172]  —  (18)  Why   was  the  peace  of 
Ghent  so  favorable?  [§  173] 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SETTLING  THE  WEST   (1800-1820) 

175.  THE  WEST  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  THE  NATION 

EVER  since  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution,  the  West  had 
been  active  in  national  affairs :  first,  by  the  part  played  by 
the  westerners  in  the  war  (§§  94,  104) ;  then  by  the  demand 
that  the  national  Congress  should  provide  for  new  western 
states  (§  102) ;  and  then  by  the  admission  of  the  three  western 
states  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Ohio  (§  142),  and  the  part 
played  by  their  senators  and  representatives  and  by  their  state 
legislatures  in  national  affairs. 

In  1800  about  1,250,000  out  of  7,000,000  people  in  the 
United  States  were  living  west  of  the  summits  of  the  Appala- 
chians. Pioneer  conditions  could  still  be  found  in  the  northern 
woods  of  New  England  and  New  York,  and  in  considerable 
parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  southern  states ;  but  the  people 
of  those  regions  joined  in  the  political  life  of  the  seacoast. 
The  West  was  different ;  it  was  a  region  in  which  practically 
everybody  was  a  pioneer.  The  western  people  had  a  sense 
of  belonging  to  a  section  of  their  own,  and  of  looking  upon 
national  questions  from  their  own  standpoint. 

In  1802  Jefferson  predicted  that  the  Mississippi  valley  "will 
ere  long  yield  more  than  half  of  our  whole  produce  and  contain 
more  than  half  of  our  inhabitants."  Two  decades  later  the 
West  contained  one  fourth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Union,  and 
had  revealed  many  elements  of  its  own  natural  wealth,  among 
them  the  following:  (i)  The  soil  was  deep  and  fertile;  the 
265 


266  Settling  the  West 

bottom  lands  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  the  wooded  areas  of 
Ohio,  and  the  prairies  farther  west  all  bore  surprising  crops. 

(2)  Most  of  the  settled  area  abounded  in  superb  timber,  fur- 
nishing abundant  building  material.     A  few  of  the  best  trees 
ran  to  150  or  even  200  feet  in  height  and  30  to  40  feet  in  girth. 

(3)  The  country  was  well  watered  and  fitted  for  grazing,  so 
that  the  westerners  easily  raised  cattle  and  about  1820  began 
to  drive  herds  over  the  mountains  to  market.     (4)  The  abundant 
waterways  and  the  ease  of  making  roads  quickly  opened  the 
country  to  settlement.     (5)  Regular  coal  mining  began  in  Pitts- 
burgh in  1784,  and  the  black  diamonds  were  found  also  in  many 
other  places.     (6)  Iron  ore  was  abundant,  and  charcoal  iron 
furnaces  were  started,  while  lead  was  discovered  in  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin. 

176.  THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT 

A  stream  of  immigrants  sought  this  promised  land,  with  an 
effect  seen  in  the  census  returns  of  some  of  the  states:  Ten- 
nessee had  36,000  people  in  1790  and  262,000  in  1810;  Ohio 


DETROIT  IN  1815. 


Roads  and  Waterways  to  the  West          267 

rose  from  45,000  in  1800  to  581,000  in  1820.  New  settlements 
sprang  up.  Fort  Dearborn,  on  the  Chicago  River,  first  built 
in  1803  and  destroyed  by  Indians  in  1812,  was  rebuilt  in  1816, 
and  became  the  nucleus  of  Chicago.  Terre  Haute,  Fort  Wayne, 
and  South  Bend  were  settled  about  1817.  St.  Louis  had  been 
founded  by  the  French  in  1764.  Although  the  eastern  states 
were  all  growing  rapidly,  they  were  able  to  send  off  swarms  of 
emigrants,  because  large  families  were  common  throughout 
the  country.  Every  stalwart  son  could  make  a  livelihood,  and 
almost  every  daughter  was  wanted  as  a  farmer's  wife. 

To  accommodate  this  stream  of  land-hungry  people,  the 
United  States  in  1800  adopted  a  new  public  land  system :  land 
was  divided  into  small  parcels  and  sold  at  land  offices  on  the 
frontier  at  a  minimum  price  of  $2  an  acre,  one  fourth  of  the  pur- 
chase money  down  and  four  years'  time  for  the  balance.  Many 
followed  the  principle  of  the  old  woman  in  Eggleston's  novel, 
The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  who,  when  her  husband  was  buy- 
ing, said,  "Git  a  plenty  while  you're  a  gittin'  .  .  .  Congress 
land." 

177.   ROADS  AND  WATERWAYS  TO  THE  WEST 

To  reach  the  western  lands  several  main  highways  from  east 
to  west  were  marked  out  by  nature:  (i)  A  route  led  from 
Albany  through  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  thence  via 
Geneva  to  Buffalo.  (2)  In  1812  Rochester  was  founded,  the 
plain  to  the  west  of  it  was  quickly  occupied,  and  a  new  main 
road  was  laid  out  directly  west  to  Lake  Erie.  (3)  From  Phila- 
delphia a  good  road  ran  through  Bedford  in  southern  Penn- 
sylvania to  Pittsburgh,  350  miles.  (4)  From  Alexandria  (oppo- 
site Washington)  a  road  led  about  300  miles  to  Pittsburgh,  by 
Braddock's  old  route  up  the  Potomac  to  Cumberland,  and 
across  the  Laurel  Mountains  to  the  Monongahela  River. 
(5)  From  Alexandria  or  Richmond  people  followed  the  long- 
traveled  easy  pass  from  the  upper  Roanoke  southwest  to  the 
Holston  River,  and  thence  down  the  Tennessee,  or  northwest- 


268 


Settling  the  West 


ROADS  AND  WATERWAYS  TO  THE  WEST  IN  1825. 

ward  through  the  Cumberland  Gap  to  Kentucky.  (6)  From 
Georgia  westward  there  was  easy  travel  to  Mississippi  Terri- 
tory and  New  Orleans. 

Most  of  the  wheel  roads  crossed  many  swamps  and  unbridged 


Roads  and  Waterways  to  the  West         269 

streams,  and  were  without  good  inns.  In  regions  where  there 
was  very  little  stone,  pikes  were  out  of  the  question.  As  a 
substitute,  companies  built  "plank  roads"  of  thick  boards  laid 
side  by  side,  and  charged  toll.  The  greater  part  of  the  high- 
ways west  of  the  mountains  were  simple  rough  tracks,  winding 
in  and  out  among  stumps  and  trees,  pleasant  in  dry  weather, 
and  a  slough  when  it  rained.  Hence  the  journey  from  the 
eastern  states  to  the  West  was  a  serious  undertaking.  The  ordi- 
nary vehicle  was  the  Conestoga  wagon  of  wood,  with  an  arched 
canvas  top.  The  emigrants  sold  most  of  their  furniture  and 
other  heavy  movables,  took  food  with  them,  and  cooked  as 
they  went  along.  Breakdowns  were  frequent  in  the  terrible 
roads,  and  an  average  of  twenty  miles  a  day  was  quick 
travel. 

When  once  the  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  were  reached, 
movement  became  easier;  even  on  small  rivers  like  the  upper 
Wabash  and  the  Muskingum,  flatboats  were  used.  The 
simplest  craft  in  the  lively  river  traffic  was  the  birch-bark  canoe, 
which  would  hold  one  or  two  persons,  or  the  dugout,  often 
larger.  More  elaborate  was  the  raft,  sometimes  as  much  as 
a  hundred  feet  long,  floating  all  day  on  the  current  and  tied  up 
at  night ;  some  of  the  rafts  carried  houses,  open  fires,  and  cattle. 
The  flat-bottomed  ark  was  sometimes  as  much  as  sixty  feet 
long.  The  flatboat  was  more  common,  with  its  crew  of  un- 
kempt and  brawny  polemen,  the  terror  of  the  frontier.  A  step 
higher  was  the  keel  boat,  a  more  carefully  built  and  ambitious 
structure,  housed  over  with  a  deck,  and  provided  with  two 
"broadhorns,"  or  steering  oars. 

On  some  such  craft  the  settler  floated  lazily  down  the  rivers 
and  met  the  dangers  of  the  voyage  —  the  river  pirates,  who 
often  attacked  even  armed  boats,  and  Indians,  who  poured  in 
a  volley  from  the  shore.  Many  of  the  immigrants  to  central 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  took  advantage  of  the  water 
highways  by  following  down  the  Ohio  and  then  poling  up  a 
tributary  to  the  place  of  destination. 


2  7o 


Settling  the  West 
178.   STEAMBOATS  (1807-1820) 


In  later  times  many  settlers  traveled  in  steamboats.  Robert 
Fulton  in  New  York  set  himself  to  the  problem  of  building  a 
successful  steamboat  (§  128),  raised  with  difficulty  the  few 
thousand  dollars  necessary  for  a  trial,  and  ordered  an  engine 
from  England.  In  August,  1807,  he  set  in  motion,  on  the 


THE  CLEKMO.VT. 

Hudson  River,  the  clumsy-looking  Clermont,  which  could 
steam  against  wind  and  tide,  and  on  her  trial  trip  reached 
Albany  in  less  than  a  day  and  a  half.  The  use  of  steamers 
spread  rapidly.  A  regular  line  to  Albany  was  established  in 
1808 ;  within  five  years  a  line  was  running  on  the  Delaware,  a 
steamboat  was  built  at  Pittsburgh,  and  steam  ferryboats  were 
introduced  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia ;  and  in  1816  steamers 
were  introduced  on  Long  Island  Sound. 

After  1812  steamers  multiplied  on  the  western  rivers.  The 
hulls  could  be  built  anywhere  out  of  timber  on  the  spot;  the 
fuel  was  wood  from  the  river  banks ;  engines  and  boilers  at 
first  had  to  be  brought  over  the  mountains.  The  river  life  is 
best  described  in  the  boyhood  recollections  which  Mark  Twain 
has  preserved  for  us  in  his  books  on  the  West.  In  1820  it  took 
thirty-five  days  to  go  up  from  New  Orleans  to  Pittsburgh  by 
steam,  and  about  ten  days  to  go  down.  The  Great  Lakes 


Local  and  National  Highways  271 

were  not  safe  or  convenient  for  small  sailing  craft  or  for  rowboats, 
and  were  not  much  used  as  a  highway  for  immigration  till  steamers 
were  introduced.  The 
first  Lake  Erie  steamer 
was  the  Walk-in-the- 
Water,  built  in  1818; 
in  1832  a  steamer 
reached  Chicago  from 
the  East;  and  after 
that  time  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  immi- 
grants passed  through 
the  Lakes. 


THE  WALK-IN -TBE-WATER,  ABOUT  1820. 

179.   LOCAL  AND  NATIONAL  HIGHWAYS 

The  trouble  with  most  of  the  roads  was  that  they  were  made 
by  the  local  governments,  which  spent  as  little  as  possible. 
The  stretches  of  privately  owned  "pike"  and  plank  road 
(§  177)  in  the  West  did  not  reach  across  the  mountains. 
Some  states,  such  as  Pennsylvania,  disliked  to  spend  money 
on  roads  intended  to  carry  people  through  them  into  other 
states.  Hence  it  was  suggested  that  the  federal  government 
should  build  national  highways.  The  first  act  of  Congress  on 
the  subject  (1802)  was  that  for  the  admission  of  Ohio,  which 
provided  that  five  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands 
sold  in  that  state  should  be  applied  to  roads  to  reach  those  lands. 
This  idea  took  definite  form  in  an  act  of  1806  for  the  survey 
of  a  road  from  Cumberland,  Maryland,  to  the  Ohio  River. 

Construction  of  this  so-called  Cumberland  Road  began 
speedily;  in  1820  it  was  opened  to  Wheeling.  It  was  later 
continued  westward  to  Columbus,  thence  much  of  the  way  to 
Indianapolis,  and  southwestward  toward  St.  Louis.  As  soon 
as  it  was  opened  it  became  the  great  artery  of  western  travel, 
for  it  was  direct,  had  easy  grades,  and  was  macadamized. 
Congress  in  the  course  of  thirty  years  spent  upon  it  $6,800,000 ; 


272  Settling  the  West 

but  it  was  at  last  superseded  by  railroads,  and  at  various  times 
after  1834  Congress  transferred  the  roadbed  to  the  ownership 
of  states  in  which  it  lies. 

1 80.   ERIE  CANAL  (1817-1830) 

The  most  obvious  line  of  western  transit  by  water  was  from 
the  Hudson  up  the  Mohawk  and  across  to  Lake  Ontario.  The 
first  statesman  to  take  up  the  building  of  a  canal  on  this  route 
was  De  Witt  Clinton  of  New  York,  who  saw  the  many  ad- 
vantages to  the  state  and  city  of  New  York  from  a  waterway 
which  would  make  New  York  Harbor  the  commercial  mouth 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  thus  diverting  traffic  from  New  Orleans. 
The  War  of  1812  gave  impetus  to  this  idea,  because  it  showed 
how  hard  it  was  to  transport  men  and  supplies  from  the  coast 
and  the  interior  to  the  Lakes. 

In  1817,  under  the  energetic  leadership  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
who  said  that  "he  was  no  advocate  for  refined  arguments  on 
the  Constitution,"  Congress  passed  the  so-called  Bonus  Bill, 
appropriating  about  $1,500,000  to  be  distributed  among  the 
states  for  internal  improvements.  It  was  expected  that  New 
York  would  have  a  big  slice  to  spend  on  the  proposed  Erie 
Canal,  but  President  Madison  stepped  in,  and  on  the  last  day 
of  his  term  vetoed  the  bill,  for  the  "strict  construction"  reason 
that  he  could  find  no  clause  of  the  Constitution  which  distinctly 
authorized  such  expenditure. 

The  state  of  New  York  at  once  set  to  work  to  build  its  own 
canal,  and  in  1823  the  Erie  Canal  was  finished  from  the  Hudson 
near  Albany  to  the  Genesee  River;  in  1825  the  direct  line  was 
completed  to  Black  Rock,  near  Buffalo,  363  miles  from  Albany. 
The  original  canal  cost  $7,000,000,  and  the  whole  expenditure 
was  more  than  repaid  by  tolls;  but  down  to  1916,  $200,000,000 
more  had  been  spent  on  extensions  and  repairs. 

The  effects  of  the  Erie  Canal  were  marvelous.  Lands  all 
along  the  line  at  once  trebled  in  value,  and  the  freight  rate 
from  tidewater  to  Lake  Erie  dropped  from  $120  a  ton  to  $19. 


Western  Frontier  Life  273 

The  city  of  New  York  increased  from  124,000  people  in  1820 
to  203,000  in  1830,  and  has  ever  since  remained  the  most  popu- 
lous city  in  the  Union.  After  1825  a  large  part  of  the  over- 
land immigration  passed  through  the  Erie  Canal.  The  passage 
from  Schenectady  to  Utica  (about  two  hours  by  rail  nowadays) 
was  twenty-two  hours  by  canal  boat ;  the  passengers  were 
crowded,  and  half  stifled  at  night,  and  the  frequent  cry  of  "low 
bridge  "  disturbed  the  journey  by  day. 

181.   WESTERN  FRONTIER  LIFE 

When  the  settler  reached  the  golden  West,  he  found  sub- 
stantially the  old  colonial  life  over  again  —  land  to  clear,  log 
houses  to  build,  towns  to  found,  schools  to  start.  An  observer 
said  of  the  westerners,  "They  are  in  a  low  state  of  civilization, 
about  half  Indian  in  their  modes  of  life."  Abraham  Lincoln, 
born  in  Kentucky  in  1809,  lived  as  a  boy  one  winter  in  Indi- 
ana, in  a  hovel  called  a  "  half-faced  camp."  Better  abodes  were 
built  of  logs,  with  log  chimneys  and  puncheon  (split  log)  floors, 
and  might  cost  twenty  or  twenty-five  days'  labor. 

Yet  in  the  midst  of  much  that  was  rough,  trained  men  like 
Philander  Chase,  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Ohio,  struggled  on,  found- 
ing schools,  building  new  churches,  educating  the  ministers,  and 
elevating  the  community.  The  Methodist  or  Baptist  frontier 
minister  had  perhaps  half  a  dozen  little  churches  on  his  hands, 
and  "rode  circuit"  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  preaching,  baptiz- 
ing, burying  the  dead,  organizing  churches,  and,  if  necessary, 
threatening  rowdies  who  undertook  to  disturb  the  meeting. 
One  of  the  favorite  diversions  of  the  time  was  to  attend  camp 
meeting,  which  was  a  combination  of  picnic,  summer  resort, 
and  religious  exercise,  where  people  took  household  furniture, 
children,  dogs,  and  psalm  books.  If  the  ministers  roared  and 
the  converts  shrieked,  foamed  at  the  mouth,  and  fell  in  con- 
vulsions, we  must  remember  that  such  exaggerated  experiences 
often  aroused  and  turned  to  better  ways  rough  but  powerful 
natures  that  could  not  be  reached  by  milder  means. 


274  Settling  the  West 

For  education  in  the  Northwest  early  provision  was  made. 
Each  settlement  soon  had  its  common  school.  Out  of  land  re- 
served by  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  and  private  contributions, 
half  a  dozen  little  colleges  arose  in  a  few  years.  In  1830  two 
western  magazines  were  started :  Hall's  Illinois  Magazine  and 
Flint's  Western  Monthly  Review. 

182.   WESTERN  TERRITORIES  AND  STATES  (1798-1819) 

Until  many  years  later,  the  regions  north  and  south  of  the 
Ohio  River  were  both  considered  parts  of  the  West.  In  many 
respects  the  pioneer  life  was  about  the  same  in  Indiana,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Louisiana.  All  the  settlers  had  the  same  problem 
of  conquering  the  forest,  of  living  through  dearth  and  the  dis- 
eases from  which  the  new  settlements  suffered,  of  laying  the 
foundation  for  improved  farms  and  towns  and  cities.  Nor  did 
Congress  prefer  one  group  over  another.  Great  territories 
were  created  in  both  regions,  and  as  they  grew  in  population 
they  were  subdivided  and  portions  were  admitted  as  states. 
Hence  most  of  the  territorial  governments  lasted  but  a  few 
years,  and  the  number  of  states  steadily  grew. 

Out  of  the  Northwest  Territory  of  1787  (§  115)  were  set  off 
the  territories  of  Indiana  (1800),  Michigan  (1805),  and  Illinois 
(1809).  The  Territory  South  of  the  Ohio  River  (1790)  was 
incorporated  in  the  state  of  Tennessee.  Farther  south  was 
the  Territory  of  Mississippi  (1798  and  1804),  from  which 
was  set  off  Alabama  Territory  (1817).  The  greater  part  of  the 
Louisiana  purchase  was  organized  as  the  Territory  of  Louisiana 
(1805),  later  renamed  the  Territory  of  Missouri  (1812).  Each 
of  these  territories  had  sooner  or  later  a  representative  govern- 
ment with  a  one-house  legislature,  a  delegate  in  Congress  who 
had  a  seat  but  no  vote,  and  a  governor  and  other  territorial 
officials  appointed  by  the  President.  Each  of  them  understood 
that  it  was  simply  a  halfway  stage  to  a  state  government. 

The  one  striking  difference  between  the  northern  and  the 
southern  territories  was  with  regard  to  slavery.  The  North- 


The  Antislavery  Movement  '275 

west  Ordinance,  including  the  antislavery  clause,  was  confirmed 
by  act  of  Congress  in  1 789 ;  but  when  the  Territory  South  of 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  Territory  were  organized  in  1790 
and  1798,  that  clause  was  omitted,  and  the  slavery  then  exist- 
ing was  allowed  to  continue  in  those  regions,  as  also  in  Ken- 
tucky. Shortly  after  Ohio  was  admitted  into  the  Union  (1803) 
as  a  free  state,  New  Jersey  added  its  gradual  emancipation  act 
to  those  of  the  neighboring  states  (§  112).  Thus  was  com- 
pleted a  compact  block  of  nine  free  states  flanked  by  eight 
slaveholding  states.  When  Louisiana  was  admitted  to  the 
Union  (1812)  as  the  i8th  state,  the  number  stood  nine  to  nine. 
As  early  as  1793,  Congress  passed  a  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
by  which  it  took  the  responsibility  for  the  recovery  of  fugitives 
who  might  find  their  way  into  free  states. 

183.  THE  ANTISLAVERY  MOVEMENT  (1807-1820) 

In  1807  the  question  of  slavery  came  up  clearly  before  Con- 
gress because  of  the  controversy  over  a  bill  to  prohibit  the  slave 
trade,  as  soon  as  the  prohibition  in  the  Constitution  (§  119) 
should  expire.  On  this  question,  the  South  was  divided : 
Maryland  and  Virginia  had  surplus  slaves  to  sell  to  their  south- 
ern neighbors  and  joined  with  the  northern  states  in  voting  to 
prohibit  the  foreign  slave  trade  absolutely.  On  the  question 
of  domestic  slavery,  however,  those  states  stood  with  their 
southern  neighbors. 

Still  slavery  at  that  time  seemed  hardly  to  be  a  sectional 
question.  Antislavery  societies  were  formed  all  along  the 
border,  both  north  and  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  Line 
and  of  the  Ohio  River.  A  sort  of  national  antislavery  society 
was  formed  in  the  shape  of  "The  American  Convention  for 
Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  and  Improving  the  Condi- 
lion  of  the  African  Race,"  which  met  about  once  every  two 
years.  This  convention  and  local  societies  discussed  political 
questions  affecting  slavery,  petitioned  the  state  legislatures  and 
Congress,  and  tried  to  stir  people  up  to  form  abolition  socie- 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  18 


276  Settling  the  West 

ties.  One  western  man,  Benjamin  Lundy  of  Kentucky,  was 
a  kind  of  antislavery  apostle,  and  in  1821  established  an  aboli- 
tion paper,  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation. 

These  efforts  were  rather  checked  than  aided  by  the  National 
Colonization  Society  (founded  in  1816),  which  aimed  (i)  to  en- 
courage emancipation  by  carrying  the  free  negroes  to  Africa 
and  (2)  to  relieve  slaveholders  by  taking  away  the  free  negroes 
who  made  their  slave  brethren  discontented.  In  1819  Congress 
appropriated  $100,000  to  carry  back  slaves  that  might  be  cap- 
tured on  the  high  seas ;  a  negro  colony  was  founded  in  Liberia, 
on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  (1821),  and  first  and  last  several 
thousand  negroes  were  sent  there. 

Gradually  the  West  came  into  the  slavery  discussion,  at  first 
because  used  as  a  kind  of  balance  between  North  and  South. 
From  the  admission  of  Louisiana  (1812)  the  number  of  slave 
states  was  kept  equal  to  that  of  free  states,  so  that  neither 
section  might  have  a  majority  in  the  Senate;  Indiana  in  1816 
(igth  state)  was  balanced  by  Mississippi  in  1817  (2oth  state) ; 
Illinois  in  1818  (2ist  state)  was  followed  by  Alabama  in  1819 
(22d  state).  The  North,  including  the  Northwest,  grew  so 
much  faster  than  the  South,  that  in  1820,  under  the  applica- 
tion of  the  three-fifths  rule,  there  were  105  free-state  members 
in  the  House  to  81  slave-state  members. 

184.   POLITICAL  LIFE,  AND  HENRY  CLAY 

Politics  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting  topic  in  the  West. 
Local  parties  very  quickly  were  merged  in  the  general  national 
parties;  elections  were  lively,  and  about  1800  the  practice  of 
"stump  speaking"  was  introduced;  that  is,  of  open-air  ad- 
dresses to  a  series  of  popular  meetings.  The  western  states  led 
in  a  movement  for  the  suffrage  of  all  adult  white  men  and  for 
elective  judges.  In  politics  and  in  social  life  the  most  influ- 
ential man  in  a  village  was  the  storekeeper,  who  was  often  also 
distiller,  country  banker,  real  estate  dealer,  and  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  hence  called  "Squire." 


Missouri  Compromise  277 

Local  government  in  the  West  was  imported  from  eastern 
communities.  The  northwestern  states  set  up  a  system  of 
school  districts  on  the  New  England  model.  In  Ohio,  where 
the  New  England  element  was  strongest,  the  people  adopted  a 
kind  of  modified  town  meeting.  In  Indiana  and  Illinois,  where 
there  were  many  southern  people,  and  also  in  the  southwestern 
states,  the  county  of  the  southern  type  became  more  important. 

No  man  more  distinctly  represents  the  West  than  Henry 
Clay.  Born  a  poor  boy  in  Virginia,  he  emigrated  to  Kentucky, 
and  at  twenty-nine  sat  as  senator  from  Kentucky  in  Wash- 
ington (1806).  From  that  time  to  his  death  in  1852  Clay  was 
most  of  the  time  in  the  service  of  the  federal  government  as 
senator,  representative,  or  Secretary  of  State.  In  six  terms 
he  showed  himself  the  greatest  Speaker  in  the  history  of  Con- 
gress, managing  the  House  of  Representatives  as  a  skillful  coach- 
man handles  a  four-horse  team. 

What  made  Clay  so  distinctively  a  western  man  was  his 
political  optimism.  He  believed  in  all  good  things,  in  the  future 
of  his  country,  the  growth  of  the  West,  the  good  judgment  of 
the  average  voter.  He  was  the  inventor  and  the  strongest 
advocate  of  what  he  called  the  "American  System,"  by  which 
he  meant  the  commercial  development  of  the  country  by  pro- 
tective tariffs  and  other  public  aids.  Above  all,  throughout 
his  life  he  worked  steadily  and  wisely  for  the  establishment  of 
better  means  of  transit.  His  personal  qualities  gave  strength 
to  his  political  views ;  he  was  courteous  and  quick,  had  a  natural 
power  of  attracting  friends  to  him,  and  was  ingenious  in  devis- 
ing compromises  when  party  spirit  ran  high. 

185.  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE  (1819-1821) 

The  influence  of  Henry  Clay  was  strongly  felt  in  one  phase 
of  the  first  great  political  controversies  over  the  western  ques- 
tion. The  issue  was  the  admission  of  Missouri,  which  chanced 
to  be  the  battle  ground  for  the  struggle  between  slavery  and 
antislavery.  In  its  institutions,  the  character  of  the  popula- 


278 


Missouri  Compromise  279 

tion  and  its  produce,  the  community  grouped  about  the  lower 
Missouri  River  country  and  the  section  of  the  Mississippi  below 
St.  Louis,  was  western.  The  Missouri  people  had  about  the 
same  make-up  and  interests  as  the  neighboring  state  of  Illinois, 
but  a  large  part  of  the  population  came  from  southern  slave- 
holding  states,  and  some  of  them  had  brought  their  slaves  with 
them  and  intended  to  keep  them.  When  in  February,  1819,  a 
bill  for  the  admission  of  Missouri  came  up  in  Congress,  an 
antislavery  amendment,  introduced  by  James  Tallmadge  of 
New  York,  passed  the  House  by  the  close  vote  of  87  to  86; 
but  the  Senate  refused  to  accept  it,  and  the  bill  failed. 

During  1819  many  northern  legislatures  and  public  meetings 
declared  that  Missouri  must  never  be  a  slave  state.  When  a 
new  Congress  assembled  in  December,  1819,  a  bill  passed  the 
House  to  admit  Maine  (at  that  time  a  part  of  Massachusetts) 
as  a  new  state ;  and  another  bill  for  the  admission  of  Missouri. 
To  the  latter  the  House,  by  a  test  vote  of  94  to  86,  added  an 
amendment  prohibiting  slavery  in  Missouri.  The  Senate 
united  the  two  measures  into  one  bill,  but  instead  of  the  House 
prohibition  accepted  the  amendment  of  Senator  Thomas  of 
Illinois,  forever  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  except  in  Missouri. x  After  a 
few  days  of  great  excitement,  the  House  accepted  the  Thomas 
amendment  as  a  compromise ;  Maine  was  admitted  at  once 
(23d  state),  and  the  people  of  Missouri  were  allowed  to  form 
a  slaveholding  constitution. 

The  new  Missouri  constitution  made  it  the  duty  of  the  legis- 
lature to  prevent  the  coming  in  of  free  negroes.  This  provi- 
sion produced  a  second  uproar  in  Congress  and  led  to  a  second 
compromise,  engineered  by  Henry  Clay  in  1821,  by  which  the 
legislature  of  Missouri  agreed  to  make  no  law  infringing  on  the 
rights  of  citizens  of  other  states;  and  Missouri  was  at  last 
admitted  to  the  Union  (24th  state). 

The  essence  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  the  drawing  of 
a  geographical  line  across  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  north  of 


280  Settling  the  West 

which  there  were  to  be  no  slaveholding  territories,  and  no  slave- 
holding  states  except  Missouri.  That  is,  the  act  continued  the 
old  geographical  separation  of  slaveholding  and  free  territory 
along  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  and  the  line  of  the  Ohio  River, 
by  extending  the  boundary  around  Missouri  and  then  along 
the  line  of  36°  30'  to  the  western  limits  of  the  United  States. 
The  compromise  thus  excluded  slavery  from  the  larger  part  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase,  and  also  recognized  the  right  of  Con- 
gress to  deal  with  slavery  in  the  territories. 

The  compromise  had  plenty  of  enemies  on  both  sides.  John 
Randolph  of  Virginia  politely  called  it  "a  dirty  bargain." 
John  Quincy  Adams,  when  his  friend  Calhoun  threatened  seces- 
sion, made  perhaps  the  first  prophecy  of  a  civil  war  when  he 
asked  whether  in  such  a  case  "the  population  of  the  North 
.  .  .  would  fall  back  upon  its  rocks  bound  hand  and  foot  to 
starve,  or  whether  it  would  not  retain  its  powers  of  locomotion 
to  move  southward  by  land." 

1 86.   REVIEW 

The  West  began  to  be  a  vital  part  of  the  nation  soon  after 
1800.  It  was  rich  in  land  and  resources,  and  attracted  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  immigrants.  They  came  from  the  East  in  three 
main  streams  of  settlement :  (a)  through  central  New  York 
and  along  Lake  Erie ;  (b)  through  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, 
overland  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio  River ;  (c)  through  or 
around  the  southern  mountains. 

The  settlement  of  the  West  was  greatly  aided  by  the  use 
of  steamboats  on  the  rivers  and  lakes;  and  by  the  Cumber- 
land Road,  constructed  by  Congress  to  the  Ohio  River.  The 
Erie  Canal  (finished  in  1825)  made  a  direct  connection  with 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  was  for  years  the  most  important  highway 
to  the  West ;  and  it  built  up  the  city  of  New  York. 

At  first  the  West  was  all  frontier  and  suffered  from  the 
disadvantages  of  frontier  life,  such  as  poverty,  ignorance,  and 
religious  excitement.  As  settlement  advanced,  new  territories 


References  281 

were  created  in  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio  River  under  the 
Northwest  Ordinance.  The  states  of  Ohio  and  Louisiana  were 
admitted  to  the  Union  (1803, 1812).  The  slavery  question  came 
up  in  the  territories  north  of  the  Ohio  River  and  in  older  states, 
where  abolition  societies  and  agitators  were  at  work.  After 
1812,  the  states  were  regularly  admitted  in  pairs,  one  free  and  one 
slave.  After  a  violent  controversy,  in  Congress  and  throughout 
the  country,  an  east  and  west  line  was  drawn  by  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820  across  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  North  of' 
it  slavery  was  forever  prohibited.  The  West  was  much  inter- 
ested in  politics  and  public  discussion,  and  was  well  represented 
in  Congress  by  statesmen  of  whom  Henry  Clay  was  the  most 
distinguished. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  268,  278.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  209. — Brigham,  Geogr.  Influences,  chs.  iv,  v. —  Fish,  Am.  Na- 
tionality, 137. — Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  248,  253,  270,  278, 
306,  341,  344.  —  Sample,  Geogr.  Conditions,  150-168,  246-277.  —  Shep- 
herd, Hist.  Atlas,  202,  203,  206.  — Turner,  New  West,  70,  226,  310.  — 
See  Supt.  of  Docs.,  Geography  and  Exploration  Lists. 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  IX.  148-174.  —  Babcock,  Rise  of  Am. 
Nationality,  ch.  xv.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  128-130,  189-212  (§§  116, 
166-185).  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  156-174,  203-206.  —  Dodd,  Ex- 
pansion and  Conflict,  ch.  ii.  —  Hinsdale,  Old  Northwest,  313-328, 
351-367,  380-392. — Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  245-259,  269- 
279,  298-304.  —  McLaughlin,  Lewis  Cass,  1-33,  95-132.  —  McMaster, 
U.S.,  III.  123-142,  459-495,  516-528,  IV.  381-429,  570-601,  V.  13-18, 
130-137,  147-168.  —  Mathews,  Expansion  of  New  Engl.,  178-224.  — 
Roosevelt,  T.  H.  Benton,  1-20,  32-40.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  II.  125-131, 
205-278,  III.  96-103,  134-137,  178-188,  346-352.  —  Schurz,  Henry 
Clay,  I.  1-47,  137-146,  172-202.  —  Sparks,  Expansion,  220-274. — 
Treat,  Land  System.  —  Turner,  New  West,  chs.  v-vii. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  234-251,  338-369.  — 
Caldwell,  Survey,  142-144,  233-245.  —  Callender,  Econ.  Hist.,  ch.  xii.  — 
Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§  135-141 ;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III. 
319-326,  335-337,  34S-363,  IV.  83-90,  145-148;  Source  Book,  §§  90- 
93. — James,  Readings,  §§  57,  64-66.  —  Johnson,  Readings,  §§91-93. 
—  Johnston,  Am.  Orations,  II.  33-101.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Docs., 


282  Settling  the  West 

nos.  35-42.  —  See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  83  ; 
Syllabus,  342-344. 

Illustrative.  Banks,  Round  Anvil  Rock.  — Bryant,  Hunter  of  the 
Prairies.  — •  Churchill,  The  Crossing.  —  Clemens  (Mark  Twain),  Life  on 
the  Mississippi.  —  Cooke,  Leather  Stocking  and  Silk.  —  Cooper,  The 
Prairie.  —  Eggleston,  Circuit  Rider.  —  Parrish,  When  Wilderness  was 
King.  —  Riddle,  Ansel's  Cave. 

Pictures.     Sparks,  Expansion.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Life  in  some  one  western  town  previous  to  1830.  [§  176]  —  (2)  Ac- 
count of  a  journey  over  one  of  the  roads  mentioned  in  §  177.  — 
(3)  Fulton's  invention  of  the  steamboat.  [§  178]  —  (4)  Construction  of 
the  Cumberland  Road,  or  of  the  Erie  Canal.  [§§  179,  180]  —  (5)  Travel 
on  the  Erie  Canal.  [§  180]  —  (6)  Frontier  life  about  1810.  [§  181]  — 
(7)  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  boy.  [§  181]  —  (8)  Wandering  life  of  Benjamin 
Lundy.  [§  183]  —  (9)  Henry  Clay  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  [§  184]  — 
(10)  The  settlement  of  the  Missouri  country  down  to  1819.  [§  185]  — 
(n)  Why  was  Maine  made  a  separate  state?  [§  185] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(12)  Early  western  cattle  business.  [§  175]  —  (13)  Methods  of  buying 
and  settling  public  land  down  to  1860.  [§  176]  —  (14)  Why  did  Madison 
veto  the  Bonus  Bill?  [§  180]  —  (15)  One  of  the  early  colleges  in  the 
West.  [§  181]  —  (16)  Brief  history  of  one  of  the  following  territories: 
Indiana ;  Michigan ;  Illinois ;  Mississippi ;  Alabama ;  Louisiana. 
[§  182]  —  (17)  Emancipation  acts  in  New  Jersey,  or  in  New  York. 
[§  182]  —  (18)  External  slave  trade  after  1789.  [§  183]  —  (19)  Why 
did  colonization  of  the  negroes  fail?  [§  183]  —  (20)  Clay's  "  American 
System."  [§  184]  —  (21)  Incidents  in  the  debate  on  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  [§  185] 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  NEW  AMERICAS  AND   THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 
(1806-1823) 

187.   THE  UNITED  STATES  AS  A  NOVELTY  IN  THE  WORLD 

WE  have  grown  so  accustomed  to  thinking  of  the  United 
States  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  world  that  we  fail  to  realize 
how  startling  was  the  appearance  of  a  new  member  among  the 
family  of  nations  through  the  success  of  the  Revolution.  In 
1775  the  principal  powers  of  Europe  —  Spain,  France,  England, 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  —  hardly  recognized  that  there  were 
any  nations  in  the  world  outside  of  themselves  that  were  en- 
titled to  equal  rights.  The  small  states  of  Europe,  such  as 
Holland  and  Portugal,  existed  by  their  consent.  Turkey, 
which  then  held  Greece  and  all  the  Balkans,  was  looked  upon 
as  an  inferior  pagan  state.  Not  a  single  country  in  Africa  or 
Asia  was  considered  to  be  entitled  to  independence  if  any  Euro- 
pean power  had  the  strength  to  conquer  it. 

The  two  Americas  were  subdivided  among  the  colonizing 
powers.  Great  Britain,  Spain,  and  Portugal  had  nearly  all  the 
land,  but  some  islands  in  the  West  Indies  belonged  to  the 
French  and  to  the  Dutch ;  and  Russia  was  just  beginning  to 
lay  claims  in  the  far  Northwest. 

The  appearance  of  the  United  States  was,  therefore,  a  new 
thing  in  the  world's  history ;  it  was  the  first  country,  founded 
by  Europeans,  which  set  up  for  itself.  By  so  doing  it  put  into 
circulation  the  great  idea  that  any  European  colonies  might 
easily  grow  to  the  point  where  they  would  have  a  right  to  de- 
283 


284     The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

mand  a  government  of  their  own.  American  independence  wa-s 
also  a  notice  served  on  the  world  that  a  nation  was  appearing 
in  a  new  quarter  of  the  globe,  where  there  never  had  been  inde- 
pendent states  before. 

In  addition,  the  new  United  States  was  the  most  demo- 
cratic country  on  earth  and  at  once  set  out  to  teach  the  rest 
of  the  world  the  value  of  self-government.  We  have  already 
seen  how  the  appearance  of  the  United  States  among  the  nations 
interfered  with  Napoleon's  plans  of  conquest  (§  159).  The  War 
of  1812  was  the  proof  that  this  new  kind  of  nation  might  be 
very  disagreeable  at  sea.  Old-fashioned  Europe  was  disturbed 
by  this  upstart  nation  of  the  western  hemisphere. 

188.   EFFECT  ON  LATIN  AMERICA  (1806-1822) 

The  example  of  the  United  States  was  not  only  disturbing, 
—  it  was  dangerous ;  for  Canada,  Brazil,  and  the  Spanish  colonial 
empire  contained  several  million  people  who  were  quick  to  learn 
the  lesson  that  colonies  could  get  new  privileges  by  threatening 
to  revolt.  The  Spanish  government  especially  was  very  un- 
easy under  the  prospect  of  colonial  self-government,  and  there- 
fore lightened  the  shackles  of  trade  for  the  colonies. 

Nevertheless,  movements  began  in  America  which  looked 
toward  freedom  for  these  colonies.  A  Latin  American  named 
Miranda  landed  in  Venezuela  in  1806  with  several  hundred 
men  raised  in  the  United  States,  and  tried  to  revolutionize  it. 
This  was  the  first  of  what  came  to  be  called  "filibustering" 
expeditions  in  aid  of  Latin  Americans.  A  vain  attempt  was 
also  made  by  the  British  to  annex  the  colony  of  La  Plata 
(Buenos  Aires,  or  Argentina).  These  blind  movements  were 
much  aided  by  the  exploits  of  Napoleon  in  Europe.  He  de- 
scended upon  Portugal  in  1807,  and  thus  caused  the  Portuguese 
royal  family  to  take  refuge  in  Brazil.  The  next  year  Napoleon 
did  all  that  was  in  his  power  to  annex  Spain,  intending  by  this 
means  to  bring  all  the  Spanish  colonies  into  the  French  empire. 
The  Spaniards  and  the  Spanish  Americans  detested  the  French  ; 


Effect  on  Latin  America  285 

and  since  for  seven  years  the  invaders  remained  in  control  of  a 
great  part  of  Spain,  the  colonists  were  left  much  to  themselves 
and  set  up  local  governments  which  opened  their  trade  to  Great 
Britain  and  also  to  the  United  States. 

In  1814  Napoleon  was  compelled  to  evacuate  Spain,  and  the 
old  royal  house  was  restored.  For  a  time  the  colonies  accepted 
this  "  legitimate 
government,"  ex- 
cept La  Plata, 
which,  in  1816, 
formally  declared 
itself  independent 
and  never  again 
came  under  the 
Spanish  authority. 
From  the  Plata 
the  banner  of  in- 
dependence was 
carried  by  General 
San  Martin  to 
Chile  and  then  to 
Peru. 

In  the  mean- 
time General 
Simon  Bolivar 
had  been  success- 
ful in  Colombia, 
which  is  now  sub- 
divided into  Ven- 
ezuela,  Colombia,  LATIN  AMERICA  (1815-1830). 

and  Ecuador.  The  only  continental  possessions  left  to  Spain 
were  Mexico  and  Central  America,  which  declared  themselves 
independent  in  1821.  Brazil  cut  loose  from  Portugal  and 
declared  itself  an  independent  empire  in  1822.  The  island 
of  Haiti  had  made  itself  independent  during  the  French 


286     The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

Revolution.  There  was  therefore  nothing  left  of  the  Portu- 
guese, French,  and  Spanish  colonial  empires  except  the  Spanish 
islands  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  some  small  French  islands  in 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  French  Guiana. 

This  recital  of  the  bare  facts  leaves  out  of  account  the  ro- 
mantic side  of  the  whole  episode.  This  period  of  Latin  Ameri- 
can history  is  full  of  thrilling  adventures,  of  marvelous  crossings 
over  high  mountains,  of  battles  on  land  and  sea,  of  gallant  aid 
rendered  to  the  revolutionists  by  Englishmen  and  Americans 
who  crossed  the  sea  to  fight  in  their  cause.  To  the  people  of 
the  United  States  the  Latin  Americans  seemed  to  be  a  band 
of  patriots  who  were  following  the  glorious  example  of  the 
American  Revolution.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Mexico  and  Brazil 
were  both  organized  as  monarchies,  and  in  several  other  coun- 
tries the  head  of  the  state  was  nothing  but  a  military  dictator 
backed  up  by  an  army  of  cutthroats.  The  revolutions  led  to 
fearful  civil  wars  and  there  were  some  frightful  struggles  between 
neighboring  peoples  who  were  just  emerging  from  what  they 
claimed  to  be  the  tyranny  of  Spain. 

189.   INTEREST  IN  LATIN  AMERICA  (1806-1821) 

What  was  the  proper  action  for  the  g9vernment  of  the  United 
States  in  this  unexpected  change  of  American  conditions? 
Every  American  President  from  Washington  to  Monroe  had 
a  strong  sense  that  it  was  highly  undesirable  for  the  United 
States  to  take  part  in  European  relations  or  political  combina- 
tions, except  in  necessary  defense  of  its  own  neutral  rights. 
This  "Doctrine  of  Isolation"  was  repeatedly  stated  by 
Washington  and  was  part  of  the  policy  of  Jefferson  and  Madi- 
son. The  United  States  had  a  very  small  army  and  navy, 
and  notwithstanding  the  brief  French  war  of  1799,  the  war 
with  Tripoli,  and  the  War  of  1812,  the  feeling  of  the  whole 
country  was  that  the  United  States  was  not  in  shape  to  take 
part  in  the  combinations  of  European  powers  and  policies. 

Under  this  spirit  of  noninterference  with  Europe,  it  was  a 


Ambitions  of  the  United  States  287 

short  step  to  the  corresponding  doctrine  that  European  powers 
ought  not  to  interfere  in  America.  This  idea  was  at  the  bottom 
of  the  annexation  of  Louisiana,  which  was  the  only  way  of  pre- 
venting the  French  from  getting  a  new  foothold  in  our  neigh- 
borhood. The  United  States  did  not  deny  the  right  of  a  Euro- 
pean nation  to  control  the  colonies  which  it  already  had  in 
America,  but  greatly  objected  to  any  serious  changes  in  its 
holdings. 

For  many  reasons  the  Latin  Americans  welcomed  American 
trade.  Spain  had  always  been  very  arbitrary  about  the  trade 
with  her  colonies,  but  during  the  revolution  in  the  colonies 
Cuban  trade  was  for  the  first  time  opened  wide.  The  new 
Latin  American  states  all  received  American  vessels  and  mer- 
chants in  their  ports.  The  new  states  seemed  to  be  reaping 
the  experience  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  several  of  them 
paid  the  United  States  the  compliment  of  imitating  its  repub- 
lican and  its  federal  government. 

The  natural  impulse  was  to  recognize  the  declarations  of  in- 
dependence put  forth  by  these  new  governments  at  their  face 
value.  Still  the  United  States  had  great  ambitions  in  America 
and  had  no  desire  to  offend  Spain  by  recognizing  states  that 
might  again  be  subdued  by  Spain.  Hence  for  several  years 
President  Madison  and  President  Monroe  contented  themselves 
with  aiding  to  build  up  business  in  the  various  countries. 

TOO.   AMBITIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  (1803-1821) 

Whatever  their  feeling  about  other  nations  annexing  Ameri- 
can territory,  the  people  of  the  United  States  had  no  scruples 
about  certain  Spanish  territory  which  they  much  desired. 
From  1803  to  1819  steps  were  taken  to  complete  the  control 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  by  the  annexation  of  three  suc- 
cessive areas :  (i)  The  coast  of  Louisiana,  stretching  indefinitely 
from  the  Island  of  Orleans  westward,  came  in  as  part  of  the 
Louisiana  cession.  (2)  Part  of  West  Florida,  extending  from 
Louisiana  to  the  Perdido  River,  was  annexed  by  force  of  arms 


288    The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

from  1810  to  1813.  (3)  For  East  Florida,  a  treaty  with  Spain 
was  necessary.  In  addition,  the  United  States  for  a  long  time 
felt  it  had  a  good  claim  to  Texas,  and  it  coveted  Cuba  and  the 
Spanish  claims  in  Oregon,  whatever  they  might  be  worth. 

Cuba  remained  a  fixed  part  of  the  Spanish  empire,  although 
in  1822  an  agent  of  some  of  the  Cubans  arrived  in  Washington 
and  suggested  that  the  time  had  come  for  Cuba  to  be  inde- 
pendent. John  Quincy  Adams  believed  that  the  annexation 
of  Cuba  was  certain  to  come,  but  for  the  time  being  all  the 
American  statesmen  were  willing  that  Cuba  should  remain 
Spanish,  if  they  could  be  sure  that  it  would  not  be  transferred 
to  England  or  to  France. 

Good  fortune  attended  the  effort  to  secure  a  treaty  with 
Spain,  notwithstanding  a  bad  blunder  by  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  in  1818  pursued  hostile  Indians  into  East  Florida 
and  then  proceeded  to  capture  the  Spanish  posts  of  St.  Marks 
and  Pensacola.  The  treaty,  negotiated  in  1819,  put  an  end 
to  the  controversies  about  Texas,  West  Florida,  and  East 
Florida.  Under  it:  (i)  Spain  for  an  allowance  of  $5,000,000 
ceded  both  East  Florida  and  all  claims  on  West  Florida.  (2)  The 
United  States  ceased  to  urge  claims  to  Texas,  and  accepted 
on  the  south  and  west  an  irregular  line  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Sabine  River  to  the  source  of  the  Arkansas  and  thence 
due  north  to  latitude  42°.  (3)  The  Spaniards  surrendered  all 
claims  on  the  Pacific  coast  north  of  the  42d  parallel. 

191.  NORTHERN  BOUNDARY  AND  THE  FISHERIES 

The  ambitions  of  the  United  States  began  to  extend  also  to 
the  Pacific,  where  in  1818  the  little  post  of  Astoria  was  given 
back  by  the  British  to  representatives  of  the  United  States.  In 
the  same  year  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  agreed  that 
the  49th  parallel  should  be  the  boundary  between  Canada  and 
the  United  States  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  as  far  west  as 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Beyond  those  mountains,  any  region 
along  the  northwest  coast,  claimed  by  either  party,  should  be 


European  Political  System  289 

"free  and  open"  to  the  subjects  of  both  powers.  This  meant 
joint  occupation  of  the  Oregon  country,  or  the  whole  disputed 
region  between  California  and  Russian  Alaska. 

Another  serious  territorial  question  which  was  settled  by 
the  same  treaty  was  that  of  the  northeastern  fisheries.  The 
agreement  made  some  changes  in  the  privileges  set  forth  in  the 
treaty  of  1783  (§  108).  It  gave  Americans  the  right  to  take 
fish  inshore  —  that  is,  within  a  line  drawn  three  miles  from  the 
low- water  mark  parallel  with  the  coast  —  on  parts  of  the  coast 
of  Newfoundland  and  Labrador ;  also  the  right  to  dry  and  cure 
fish  on  the  unsettled  parts  of  those  coasts.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  United  States  renounced  such  rights  on  all  other  British 
coasts,  except  that  American  fishermen  might  enter  harbors 
of  said  coasts  for  shelter,  wood,  and  water,  and  "for  no  other 
purpose."  This  treaty  is  still  in  force. 

192.   EUROPEAN  POLITICAL  SYSTEM  (1815-1822) 

The  disturbances  in  Latin  America  greatly  interested  Europe. 
When  Napoleon  was  finally  defeated  (1815)  and  was  sent  to 
spend  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  prisoner  on  the  island  of  St. 
Helena,  the  rulers  of  France,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia,  fear- 
ing that  the  spirit  of  revolution  would  break  forth  again  in 
Europe,  formed  what  was  called  "The  Holy  Alliance."  They 
agreed  that  they  would  "on  all  occasions  and  in  all  places  lend 
each  other  aid  and  assistance."  Really  their  plan  was  for  a 
kind  of  mutual  insurance  against  revolutions. 

The  benevolence  of  the  Holy  Alliance  was  tested  in  1823, 
when  the  European  powers  by  force  put  an  end  to  a  revolution 
in  Spain  against  the  arbitrary  Bourbon  king;  and  it  was  sug- 
gested that  they  might  also  end  the  revolutions  in  Spanish 
America.  At  about  the  same  time  (1821)  the  Russian  govern- 
ment laid  claim  to  the  exclusive  trade  and  occupation  of  the 
northwest  coast,  including  part  of  Oregon ;  and  both  these  sug- 
gestions of  interference  in  America  aroused  the  United  States. 

For  several  years  Henry  Clay,  then  Speaker  of  the  House, 


290    The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

had  been  leading  a  movement  for  the  recognition  of  the  new 
South  American  states,  whether  or  not  they  were  really  inde- 
pendent. This  policy  seemed  to  have  a  precedent  in  the 
generous  conduct  of  France  toward  the  American  Revolution 
(§  93)v  President  Monroe  —  who  was  elected  in  1816  —  held 
back  from  recognition  but  sent  special  agents  to  South  America 
to  report  on  the  conditions  there. 

Soon  after  the  treaty  of  1819  (§  190)  was  ratified  by  Spain 
(1821),  the  President  proposed,  and  Congress  agreed,  to  recog- 
nize the  principal  Latin  American  countries  (1822) ;  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  months  ministers  were  exchanged  between 
the  United  States  and  Colombia,  Chile,  La  Plata,  Brazil, 
Guatemala,  and  Mexico.  Within  a  short  time  the  government 
began  to  make  commercial  treaties  with  these  powers.  By 
this  action  the  United  States  put  itself  on  record  as  believing 
that  the  Latin  American  states  had  forever  separated  them- 
selves from  their  parent  countries. 

After  the  Holy  Alliance  restored  the  tyrannical  royal  gov- 
ernment in  Spain,  a  proposition  was  made  to  send  out  an 
expedition  —  presumably  French  —  to  bring  back  the  Spanish 
colonies  to  their  former  allegiance.  Great  Britain,  which  had 
no  desire  to  see  those  colonies  and  their  trade  go  back  to  Spain, 
held  off  and  warned  the  United  States.  At  this  opportune 
moment  George  Canning,  British  foreign  minister,  made  a 
friendly  suggestion  (1823)  to  Richard  Rush,  our  minister  in 
England,  to  join  with  him  in  a  declaration  against  the  transfer 
of  any  Spanish  or  Portuguese  state  to  another  European  power. 

193.   THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  (1823) 

Rush's  account  of  the  British  proposition  greatly  stirred 
President  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet.  They  had  to  decide  whether 
they  would  go  hand  in  hand  with  Great  Britain ;  or  whether, 
as  Secretary  John  Quincy  Adams  insisted,  they  should  make  an 
independent  stand.  For  weeks  the  Cabinet  wrestled  with  these 
problems,  but  in  the  end  Monroe  yielded  to  the  stronger  mind 


Immediate  Results  of  the  Doctrine          291 

of  his  secretary,  and  allowed  him  to  draft  that  part  of  the 
message  of  December  2,  1823,  which  has  been  commonly  called 
the  "  Monroe  Doctrine."  It  contains  three  main  statements 
on  the  American  question  : 

(1)  On  colonization:   while  speaking  of  the  northwest  coast, 
Monroe  said  that  "the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and 
independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain, 
are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colo- 
nization by  any  European  powers." 

(2)  On  interposition  :  in  discussing  the  proposed  intervention 
by  European  powers  against  the  Latin  American  states,  the 
message  says  that  "interposition  for  the  purpose  of  opprtss- 
ing  them,  or  controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by 
any  European  power"  would  be  considered  unfriendly  to  the 
United  States. 

(3)  On  the  European  political  system :    the  doctrine  runs, 
"We  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their 
system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  safety." 

Monroe  meant  his  doctrine  to  be  peaceful  and  harmonizing. 
His  argument  was,  in  substance:  (i)  Since  the  United  States 
does  not  interfere  in  European  controversies,  we  should  not 
permit  third  parties  to  interfere  in  the  New  World  in  quarrels 
not  their  own.  (2)  We  are  not  hostile  to  existing  colonies  of 
European  powers,  but  it  is  contrary  to  our  interest  that  Latin 
American  territory  be  conquered  and  occupied  by  foreign  powers. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  accomplished  its  purpose :  all  schemes 
of  European  intervention  were  given  up ;  and  Russia  forth- 
with made  treaties  with  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
accepting  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Russian  America  the 
parallel  of  54°  40'  north  latitude. 

194.   IMMEDIATE  RESULTS  OF  THE  DOCTRINE  (1823-1826) 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  much  more  disposed  than  Monroe 
to  push  the  doctrine  to  the  point  of  making  the  United  States 


292     The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

the  leader  among  the  American  states.  When  he  became 
President  in  1825,  he  had  the  opportunity  of  pushing  that 
policy,  and  he  hastily  accepted  an  invitation  from  some  of  the 
Latin  American,  states  to  meet  in  a  congress  at  Panama.  One 
of  the  purposes  was  to  be  the  contriving  of  means  for  setting 
Cuba  free;  and  another  was  to  come  to  a  decision  as  to  how 
the  American  republics  were  to  protect  themselves  against 
danger  from  the  Holy  Alliance. 

The  Latin  American  states,  however,  showed  themselves 
unfriendly  to  slavery.  For  these  and  other  reasons  the  Senate 
held  up  Adams's  nomination  of  commissioners  to  attend  the 
congress  for  nearly  a  year,  and  then  Adams  was  obliged  to 
give  them  such  instructions  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  them 
to  take  the  lead.  This  was  before  the  days  of  the  telegraph, 
and  news  traveled  slowly.  When  the  commissioners  arrived  at 
Panama,  they  found  that  the  congress  had  met,  with  only  a 
part  of  the  Latin  American  states  represented,  and  had  ad- 
journed. The  Latin  Americans  showed  themselves  incapable 
of  forming  a  union  of  Latin  states,  and  had  the  question  of 
accepting  the  supremacy  of  the  United  States  been  fairly  pre- 
sented to  them,  they  would  undoubtedly  have  declined  it. 

This  first  opportunity  of  actually  making  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine mean  something  definite  went  by,  and  it  was  more  than 
twenty  years  before  any  President  or  Secretary  of  State  tried 
seriously  to  change  conditions  in  Latin  America.  Later  the 
doctrine  became  a  fixed  policy  of  the  United  States. 

195.   REVIEW 

When  the  United  States  became  a  nation,  Europe  was 
shocked,  for  there  had  never  before  been  independent  civilized 
countries  in  North  or  South  America.  The  success  of  the 
Revolution  made  the  Latin  American  colonists  discontented ; 
and  from  time  to  time  in  1806  to  1822,  they  worked  and  fought 
to  be  free  from  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  home  governments. 
La  Plata  was  the  first  colony  to  secure  its  liberty;  but  be- 


References  293 

tween  1814  and  1822  all  but  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  became 
independent. 

The  "Doctrine  of  Isolation,"  first  distinctly  laid  down  by 
Washington,  kept  the  United  States  out  of  European  wars, 
but  the  Americans  naturally  preferred  republican  governments 
among  their  neighbors,  and  hence  favored  the  Spanish  American 
revolutionists.  After  the  annexation  of  Louisiana,  West  Florida 
(1813),  and  East  Florida  (1819),  the  Spanish  government  in 
those  parts  of  the  world  was  extinguished,  and  there  was  some 
hope  of  annexing  .Cuba.  Meanwhile  the  United  States  was 
trying  to  establish  a  title  to  Oregon  and  to  secure  fishing  privi- 
leges on  the  northeast  coast. 

The  "Holy  Alliance,"  a  combination  of  powers  in  Europe, 
interfered  to  put  down  a  revolution  in  Spain  (1823),  and  lis- 
tened to  a  proposal  to  invade  the  Spanish  American  colonies ; 
while  Russia  claimed  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America 
(1821-1824).  The  United  States  began  to  recognize  the  Latin 
American  powers  in  1822. 

In  1823,  Great  Britain  proposed  a  joint  declaration  against 
any  interference  in  America ;  instead  of  this  President  Monroe 
issued  a  declaration  called  the  "Monroe  Doctrine."  He  pro- 
tested (i)  against  any  new  European  colonization  in  America; 

(2)  against  any  interposition   in   the  Latin  American  states; 

(3)  against  any  attempt  to  extend  the  European  "political 
system  "  to  America.     The  doctrine  was  aimed  simply  to  keep 
peace  in  the  Americas ;   but  the  Latin  American  powers  tried 
to  induce  the  United  States  to  take  more  positive  ground  in  the 
Panama  Congress  of  1826.     The  Senate  was  opposed,  and  the 
United  States  was  unable  to  take  the  lead  among  the  new 
countries. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography    and    Maps.  —  See    maps,    pp.     278,    285.  —  Babcock, 
Rise  of  Am.  Nationality,  272,  276,  286.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  287.  — 
Fish,   Am.  Dipl.,  218;    Am.   Nationality,  486. — Johnson,    Union  and 
Democracy,  263,  293.  —  Turner,  New  West,  208. 
HART'S  NKW  AMER.  HIST.  — 19 


294     The  New  Americas  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 

Secondary.  Babcock,  Rise  of  Am.  Nationality,  ch.  xvii.  —  Bassett, 
U.S.,  347,  348,  368-371,  375-377>  383,  384;  Andrew  Jackson,  I.  chs. 
xiv-xviii,  II.  ch.  xix.  —  Chad  wick,  U.S.  and  Spain,  I.  chs.  vii-xi. — 
Fish,  Am.  Dipl.,  chs.  xvi,  xvii;  Am.  Nationality,  168-172,  179. — 
Fuller,  Purchase  of  Fla.,  chs.  vii-xi.  —  Hart,  Monroe  Doctrine,  chs.  i-vi. 
—  Johnson,  Union  and  Democracy,  259-265,  289-297,  320-323. — 
McMaster,  U.S.,  IV.  372-376,  430-483,  V.  1-54,  433-463,  483-487-  — 
Morse,  /.  Q.  Adams,  98-148.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  III.  23-26,  57-97, 
128-133,  175-178,  189,  255,  274-293,  358-366,  389-395.  —  Schurz, 
Henry  Clay,  146-171,  267-275,  293-300.  — Turner,  New  West,  ch.  xii. 

Sources.  Caldwell,  Terr.  Development,  105-126.  —  Hart,  Con- 
temporaries, III.  §§  142-150;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III.  327-332, 
337-345,  IV.  25-49,  98-114.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xx.  —  Mac- 
Donald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  34,  43.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  56,  129.  — 
S«e  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  83;  Syllabus,  344. 

Illustrative.  Aimard,  Queen  of  the  Savannah  (Span.  Am.  inde- 
pendence). —  Atherton,  Rezdnov  (Russia  in  Cal.).  — White,  El  Supremo 
(Paraguay). 

Pictures.     Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  What  claims  had  Russia  to  the  northwest  coast  in  1821  ?  [§  187]  — 
(2)  Why  did  the  Spanish  American  colonies  revolt?  [§  188]  —  (3)  Wash- 
ington's "  Doctrine  of  Isolation."  [§  189]  — (4)  What  was  the  interest 
of  the  United  States  in  Cuba?  [§  190]  — (5)  Why  was  Astoria  restored 
to  the  United  States?  [§  191]  —  (6)  What  was  "The  Holy  Alliance"? 
[§  192]  — ^7)  Why  did  Monroe  hesitate  to  recognize  the  Latin  American 
states?  [§  192]  —  (8)  Why  did  not  the  United  States  accept  Canning's 
offer?  [§  193] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(9)  How  did  the  French  get  their  islands  in  the  West  Indies?  [§  187]  — 
(10)  How  did  the  Dutch  get  their  holdings  in  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America?  [§  187]  —  (n)  How  did  Haiti  become  independent? 
[§  188]  —  (12)  Miranda's  expeditions  of  1806.  [§  188]  —  (13)  Account 
of  General  Simon  Bolivar.  [§  188]  —  (14)  Ought  the  United  States  to 
have  joined  in  the  Panama  Congress?  [§  194] 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
GROWTH  OF   NATIONAL  SPIRIT   (1815-1830) 

196.   EFFECT  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812  ON  THE  NATION 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  defeats  and  the  humiliations  of  the 
War  of  1812,  the  United  States  came  out  of  it  with  a  new  idea 
of  what  it  might  do  as  a  nation,  both  within  its  own  boundaries 
and  as  one  of  the  countries  of  the  world.  The  war  and  the 
long  difficulties  before  it  had  made  people  realize  the  need 
of  national  finances,  and  of  national  relations  with  business. 

The  currency  was  in  bad  condition  because  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  (§  141)  had  been  allowed  to  expire  in  1811,  and 
the  business  of  banking  and  of  issuing  paper  money  was  left 
to  banks  chartered  by  the  states.  Many  of  them  were  frauds, 
many  others  were  badly  managed,  and  the  country  was  full  of 
paper  notes  which  could  not  be  redeemed  in  specie. 

The  course  of  business  had  been  altered  by  the  interruption 
of  commerce.  Some  of  the  accumulation  of  profits,  both  from 
shipping  and  from  other  sources,  went  into  cotton,  woolen,  and 
iron  mills,  especially  in  New  England  and  the  middle  states. 
The  manufactures  of  the  United  States  came  nearer  supplying 
the  market  than  at  any  previous  time  in  the  history  of  the 
country.  Naturally,  the  manufacturers  were  anxious  to  keep 
these  advantages.  The  difficulty  of  getting  troops  and  supplies 
to  the  frontier  aroused  the  country  to  the  need  of  new  lines 
of  transportation  with  improved  highways  and  waterways. 
Among  the  wealthy  business  men  of  this  period  the  best 
known  was  Stephen  Girard  of  Philadelphia,  merchant  ship- 
295 


Growth  of  National  Spirit 

owner  and  founder    of 
Girard  College. 

Above  all,  there  was  a 
feeling  that  the  United 
States  was  worth  while. 
Whatever  the  defects 
of  the  army  in  the 
recent  war,  the  navy 
belonged  to  no  section 
but  was  a  national  serv- 
ice, and  the  whole 
country  could  rejoice 
in  its  success.  Even 
"strict  construction- 
ists"  —  statesmen  like 
Jefferson  and  Madison, 
who  had  written  the 
Virginia  and  Kentucky 
Resolutions  (§  152)  — 

now  felt  that  the  nation  was  more  important  than  the  states, 

and  supported  a  liberal  use  of  national  powers. 

197.  THE  TARIFF  AND  THE  SECOND  BANK  (1816) 

One  of  the  first  national  questions  to  come  up  was  that  of  the 
relation  of  the  federal  government  to  American  manufacturers. 
As  soon  as  the  war  was  over,  there  came  a  rush  of  importations 
which  greatly  interfered  with  the  little  American  mills  that 
had  been  recently  constructed  for  weaving  coarse  cottons  and 
woolens.  The  import  duties  had  been  doubled  when  the  war 
broke  out,  and  for  a  time  the  home  manufactures  had  had  al- 
most a  monopoly  of  the  market.  If  now  the  import  duties  were 
allowed  to  go  back  to  the  old  scale,  it  seemed  more  than  the 
home  manufacturers  could  stand. 

The  result  was  the  tariff  of  April  27,  1816,  passed  by  test 
votes  of  25  to  7  in  the  Senate,  and  88  to  54  in  the  House  —  a 


STEPHEN  GIRARD. 


The  Tariff  and  the  Second  Bank 


297 


tariff  which  now  seems  very  low,  but  at  the  time  was  thought 
highly  protective.  The  average  rate  of  duties  on  dutiable  goods 
in  1811  was  about  15  per  cent;  by  the  tariff  of  1816  it  was 
made  20  per  cent.  The  new  tariff  was  supported  by  .a  com- 
bination of  three  interests :  (i)  New  England  and  middle 
states  manufacturers;  (2)  western  farmers  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Henry  Clay;  (3)  South  Carolina  planters  under  John 
C.  Calhoun,  who  interested 
his  constituents  in  the  hope 
of  building  up  cotton  manu- 
factures in  South  Carolina. 
The  strongest  opponent  was 
John  Randolph  of  Virginia, 
who  said  the  only  question 
was,  "  Whether  you,  as  a 
planter,  will  consent  to  be 
taxed,  in  order  to  hire  an- 
other man  ...  to  set  up  a 
spinning  jenny." 

Another  evidence  of  na- 
tional feeling  was  the  charter 
of  the  second  United  States 
Bank.  Till  1811  the  notes 
of  the  United  States  Bank 
and  the  banks  chartered  by  the  states  circulated  alongside 
gold  and  silver  .coin,  in  which  the  good  banks  redeemed 
their  notes  whenever  presented.  After  the  capture  of  Wash- 
ington (§  170)  all  the  state  banks,  except  those  of  New  Eng- 
land, "  suspended  specie  payments  of  their  notes,"  so  that  state 
bank  notes  became  the  only  currency.  By  an  act  of  April  10, 
1816,  a  second  United  States  Bank  was  chartered  by  Congress, 
with  what  was  then  thought  the  enormous  capital  of  $35,000,00x3, 
of  which  the  United  States  was  to  own  one  fifth.  The  main 
public  services  expected  of  the  bank  were:  (i)  to  furnish  a 
sound  paper  currency,  and  to  induce  the  state  banks  to  pay 


STATE  VOTE  ON  THE  TARIFF  OF  1816. 


298  Growth  of  National  Spirit 

their  notes  in  specie ;  (2)  to  act  as  financial  agent  of  the  govern- 
ment in  receiving  and  paying  money ;  (3)  to  hold  on  deposit 
the  government  balance,  which  ranged  from  $3,000,000  to 
$10,000,000.  After  one  false  start,  the  bank  established 
branches  far  and  wide,  and  did  a  large  and  profitable  business. 

198.   JOHN  MARSHALL  AND  THE  SUPREME  COURT  (1801-1819) 

This  vigorous  use  of  the  powers  of  Congress  was  warmly 
supported  by  the  third  department  of  the  federal  government, 
the  courts,  under  the  guidance  of  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall. 
Marshall  was  born  in  1755,  served  as  a  captain  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  studied  law,  and  sat  in  the  state  legislature  and  in 
the  Virginia  ratifying  convention  of  1788.  In  1797  he  became 
a  Federalist  member  of  the  House,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and 
near  the  end  of  John  Adams's  term  was  appointed  Chief  Jus- 
tice, and  held  that  high  office  until  his  death  in  1835. 

Marshall  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  Americans.  He 
was  a  simple  householder  who  often  carried  home  his  own  tur- 
key from  market,  a  renowned  expert  in  the  game  of  quoits, 
an  upright  Christian  gentleman.  His  colleague,  Story,  said  of 
him:  "I  love  his  laugh,  .  .  .  it  is  too  hearty  for  an  intriguer, 
and  his  good  temper  and  unwearied  patience  are  equally  agree- 
able on  the  bench  and  in  the  study."  Yet  he  was  the  greatest 
of  American  jurists,  and  his  main  service  was  to  take  advan- 
tage of  cases  which  happened  to  come  before  the  Supreme 
Court  to  set  forth  clearly,  logically,  and  irresistibly  the  true 
principles  of  the  federal  Constitution ;  and  he  so  influenced 
five  judges  appointed  by  Jefferson  and  Madison  that  they 
agreed  with  him. 

Many  of  the  cases  decided  by  Marshall  are  landmarks  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  because  they  clearly  state  the  loose- 
construction  theory  of  the  federal  government,  to  which  Congress, 
the  President,  and  the  Supreme  Court  all  gave  their  sanction. 

(i)  The  Supreme  Court  undertook  to  keep  the  states  from 
encroaching  on  what  the  court  believed  to  be  the  rightful 


Parties  and  Elections  299 

powers  of  Congress.  To  this  end,  it  declared  that  certain  state 
statutes  were  void  and  not  binding,  because  they  were  contrary 
to  the  federal  Constitution  (especially  Fletcher  vs.  Peck,  1810). 
In  another  famous  case  (Dartmouth  College  case,  1819)  the 
court  insisted  that  a  charter  granted  to  a  private  corporation 
was  a  "contract"  which  the  states  were  forbidden  by  the  fed- 
eral Constitution  to  repeal  or  alter.  When  the  state  courts 
tried  to  prevent  these  decisions  by  refusing  to  allow  cases  to 
be  carried  upon  appeal,  the  federal  Supreme  Court  took  juris- 
diction even  in  cases  where  states  were  parties  (case  of  Cohens 
vs.  Virginia,  1821). 

(2)  On  the  other  hand,  the  court  strongly  sustained  the 
implied  powers  of  Congress  by  giving  effect  to  the  bank  and 
other  acts  that  were  questioned  by  the  states  (especially 
McCulloch  vs.  Maryland,  1819). 

"Let  the  end  be  legitimate,"  said  Marshall,  "let  it  be  within 
the  scope  of  the  Constitution,  and  all  means  which  are  appro- 
priate, which  are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  which  are  not 
prohibited  but  consist  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Consti- 
tution, are  constitutional." 

199.   PARTIES  AND  ELECTIONS  (1816-1824) 

Most  of  the  great  decisions  came  during  the  administration 
of  Madison's  successor,  James  Monroe,  who  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent in  1816  over  the  Federalist  Rufus  King,  by  183  electoral 
votes  to  34.  Monroe,  notwithstanding  long  experience  as 
diplomat  and  Cabinet  officer,  was  overshadowed  by  four  young 
Republican  statesmen,  each  of  whom  had  a  just  ambition  to 
be  President.  They  were :  Henry  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House 
and  always  a  critic  of  the  President's  policy;  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  the  strongest  spirit  in  the  admin- 
istration ;  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  then  an  ardent 
nationalist  or  supporter  of  strong  federal  government;  and 
William  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a 
keen  politician. 


300  Growth  of  National  Spirit 

The  Republican  party  by  this  time  accepted  most  of  the  old 
Federalist  doctrines,  such  as  implied  powers,  and  the  old  party 
spirit  ceased.  The  great  questions  before  the  people  came  in 
such  issues  as  the  Missouri  Compromise  (§  185)  and  internal  im- 
provements. Monroe  was  reflected  without  opposition  in 
1820,  and  by  1822  the  Federalist  party  had  died  out.  Hence 
the  period  got  the  name  of  the  "  Era  of  Good  Feeling,"  though 
in  reality  it  was  full  of  jealousy,  intrigue,  and  disagreement. 

As  the  presidential  election  of  1824  approached,  the  alleged 
"  Era  of  Good  Feeling"  disappeared.  Crawford  got  the  coveted 
nomination  by  a  caucus  of  Republican  members  of  Congress ;  but 
that  way  of  making  nominations  had  grown  unpopular.  Other 
candidates  were  put  forward  by  a  new  method  of  nomination 
by  state  legislatures  —  John  Quincy  Adams  in  New  England, 
Henry  Clay  in  Kentucky  and  several  other  western  states, 
and  Andrew  Jackson  in  Tennessee.  Calhoun  accepted  the 
almost  unopposed  nomination  for  Vice  President. 

Of  all  these  nominations  the  most  unexpected  was  that  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  born  in 
1767  among  the  poor  whites  of  the  Carolinas.  He  studied 
law  and  went  out  to  Tennessee  in  1788,  and  was  successively 
public  prosecutor,  member  of  Congress  (1796),  and  federal 
senator  (1797),  then  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee. 
Always  a  testy  man,  he  lived  in  a  part  of  the  country  where 
private  warfare  was  thought  a  fine  thing ;  he  fought  several 
duels  and  killed  one  man.  He  commanded  at  New  Orleans 
in  1815,  and  in  Indian  campaigns  from  1817  to  1819. 

200.  PRESIDENT  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  (1825-1829) 

The  campaign  of  1824  was  hot  and  bitter  and  full  of  per- 
sonalities. The  electoral  votes  turned  out  to  be  99  for  Jackson, 
84  for  Adams,  41  for  Crawford,  and  37  for  Henry  Clay.  Since 
no  one  had  a  majority  of  electoral  votes,  the  choice  went  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  where  Adams  was  elected  by  the  vote 
of  13  states  to  7  for  Jackson  and  4  for  Crawford  (February  9, 


Controversy  over  the  Tariff  301 

1825).  The  Jackson  men  insisted  that  inasmuch  as  their  can- 
didate had  more  electoral  votes  than  Adams,  the  ''will  of  the 
people"  was  defeated;  and  a  friend  of  Jackson  also  brought 
forward  the  unfounded  charge  that  Adams  had  bought  his 
election  by  promising  to  make  Clay  Secretary  of  State.  Jack- 
son seems  never  to  have  doubted  the  truth  of  this  slander. 

No  man  of  his  time  was  better  qualified  than  John  Quincy 
Adams,  by  character  and  training,  for  his  great  office.  As 
Federalist  senator  from  Massachusetts  in  1807,  he  voted  for 
Jefferson's  embargo,  and  was  thereupon  dropped  by  his  own 
party.  He  became  a  Republican,  minister  to  Russia,  one  of 
the  peace  commissioners  at  Ghent,  minister  to  England,  and 
from  181 7  to  1825  was  Secretary  of  State.  Adams  was  by  nature 
an  expansionist.  He  would  have  liked  to  annex  Canada ;  he 
was  especially  interested  in  Cuba ;  he  wanted  to  buy  Texas ; 
he  got  rid  of  both  the  Spanish  and  the  Russian  claims  to  the 
Oregon  region ;  and  he  went  farther  than  Monroe  in  his  interest 
in  our  Spanish  American  neighbors. 

A  methodical,  able,  and  hard-working  President,  just  and 
honorable  in  all  his  public  and  private  relations,  Adams  was 
cold  in  manner,  and  had  few  close  and  warm  friends.  After 
he  retired  from  the  presidency,  he  was  elected  to  the  House 
(1830)  and  spent  seventeen  years  there,  in  which  he  revealed 
magnificent  power  as  a  debater  and  became  the  champion  of 
the  North. 

201.   CONTROVERSY  OVER  THE  TARIFF  (1824-1828) 

The  tariff  of  1816  did  not  bring  prosperity  to  the  country; 
for  the  duties  were  not  high  enough  to  shut  out  foreign  goods, 
and  hence  did  not  wholly  suit  the  manufacturers.  In  1824  a 
tariff  was  passed  by  narrow  majorities  in  both  houses  (May  22), 
which  raised  duties  somewhat,  and  for  the  first  time  taxed 
certain  raw  materials  of  New  England  manufactures.  The 
strongest  northern  opponent  of  this  tariff  was  Daniel  Webster, 
member  from  a  shipowning  district,  who  declared  that  "the 


302  Growth  of  National  Spirit 

general  sense  of  this  age  sets,  with  a  strong  current,  in  favor  of 
freedom  of  commercial  intercourse,  and  unrestrained  individual 
action."  The  great  champion  of  the  tariff  was  Henry  Clay, 
who  argued  for  what  he  called  the  "American  System." 

A  strong  and  persistent  objection  to  protective  tariffs,  whether 
high  or  low,  made  itself  felt  in  the  South,  where  the  hopes 

of  establishing  manufactures 
with  slave  labor  had  come  to 
nothing.  In  1828  a  new 
tariff  bill  was  introduced  into 
Congress,  and  was  now  sup- 
ported by  Webster  on  the 
ground  that  his  constituents 
had  in  good  faith  changed 
their  investments  over  to 
manufactures.  The  oppo- 
nents of  the  bill  helped  to 
amend  it  by  raising  the  duties 
on  raw  materials,  in  the  ex- 
pectation that  many  friends 
of  the  bill  would  vote  against 
it  in  its  amended  form.  It 
therefore  became  known  as 
Nevertheless,  it  became  a  law 
(May  19,  1828),  and  the  average  rate  of  duty  paid  on  dutiable 
goods  rose  from  36  per  cent  in  1826  to  49  per  cent  in  1830  — 
the  highest  tariff  in  the  United  States  even  to  the  period  of 
the  Civil  War. 

Protests  rained  upon  Congress.  The  Boston  moneyed  men 
protested ;  southern  legislatures  protested  ;  most  important  of 
all,  South  Carolina  and  John  C.  Calhoun  protested.  Calhoun 
was  at  first  a  strong  advocate  of  a  national  bank,  a  tariff,  and 
internal  improvements,  in  the  confidence  that  the  federal 
government  would  help  develop  his  own  state  of  South  Caro- 
lina. Gradually  he  came  to  see  that  Congress  could  do  little 


STATE  VOTE  ON  THE  TARIFF  OF 


the  "Tariff  of  Abominations." 


Election  of  Andrew  Jackson  303 

for  a  state  like  his,  which  had  no  manufactures  and  which  de- 
pended on  slave  labor. 

In  1828  Calhoun  wrote  a  long  paper  called  The  Exposition, 
in  which  he  argued  that  any  protective  tariff  was  unconstitu- 
tional, and  that  any  state  had  a  right  to  "nullify"  a  federal 
law  which  it  thought  unconstitutional. 

202.   ELECTION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON  (1828) 

In  spite  of  the  vigor  and  ability  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  his 
administration  was  almost  a  failure  because  the  Jackson  men  did 
everything  they  could  to  prevent  his  plans  from  going  through. 
They  delayed  the  nomination  of  commissioners  for  the  Panama 
Congress  (§  194) ;  they  blocked  Adams's  excellent  plans  for 
internal  improvements  that  would  help  the  nation;  they  at- 
tacked his  personal  character.  The  truth  is  that  there  was 
a  lack  of  questions  which  really  divided  the  nation.  In  1827 
an  Antimasonic  party  was  founded,  but  it  never  became  very 
large ;  opposition  to  freemasonry  was  not  an  issue  upon  which 
the  nation  could  be  divided.  Even  the  tariff  of  1828,  though  it 
brought  out  rivalry  between  North  and  South,  did  not  lead  to 
the  foundation  of  new  political  parties. 

In  the  election  of  1828  the  only  candidates  for  the  presidency 
were  Adams  and  Jackson ;  and  the  only  vital  issue  was  the 
personal  one,  whether  Adams  was  a  good  man  who  deserved 
reelection,  or  Jackson  was  a  representative  of  the  people 
who  ought  to  supplant  him.  Adams  was  the  subject  of 
scurrilous  campaign  literature;  it  was  charged  "that  he 
was  rich ;  that  he  was  in  debt ;  that  he  had  long  enjoyed 
public  office."  On  the  other  side  an  Adams  man  printed 
a  "coffin  handbill,"  charging  Jackson  with  the  illegal  execu- 
tion of  six  men  thirteen  years  before  on  a  technical  charge 
of  desertion. 

Jackson's  election  was  almost  assured  in  advance  by  a  com- 
bination of  the  West  and  South  with  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York.  A  majority  of  the  electoral  votes  in  New  York  was 


304  Growth  of  National  Spirit 

turned  over  to  Jackson  by  Martin  Van  Buren,  a  wily  states- 
man who  was  head  of  the  "Albany  Regency,"  the  first  well 
organized  political  "machine."  Jackson  was  elected  by  178 
electoral  votes  to  83 ;  and  his  popular  vote  was  about  650,000 
to  500,000  for  Adams.  As  an  enthusiastic  friend  and  admirer 
of  Jackson  says,  "General  Jackson  was  therefore  triumphantly 
elected  President  of  the  United  States  in  the  name  of  reform  and 
as  the  standard  bearer  of  the  people." 

203.   REVIEW 

During  the  fifteen  years  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812, 
all  sections  of  the  Union  called  upon  Congress  to  create  a  new 
financial  and  economic  system ;  for  business  and  public  finance 
were  in  bad  condition.  The  principal  results  of  this  pressure 
were: 

(1)  The  tariff  of  1816. 

(2)  The  second  United  States  Bank  of  1816. 

(3)  A  series  of  decisions  by  the  Supreme  Court  which  were 
intended  to  curb  the  states,  sustain   the   doctrine  of  implied 
powers,  and  give  general  effect  to  the  national  feeling. 

Monroe,  elected  President  in  1816,  surrounded  himself  with  a 
very  strong  Cabinet,  including  John  Quincy  Adams,  Calhoun, 
and  Crawford.  There  was  no  opposition  to  his  reelection  in 
1820,  and  the  Federalist  party  shortly  died  out.  In  1824  there 
were  four  candidates,  Clay,  Crawford,  Jackson,  and  Adams; 
there  being  no  majority  of  electors,  the  choice  went  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  where  Adams  was  chosen. 

The  protective  tariff  of  1816  satisfied  nobody,  and  every 
four  years  thereafter  new  tariffs  were  introduced,  of  which 
two,  those  of  1824  and  1828,  were  passed.  Great  opposition 
arose  in  the  South,  particularly  in  South  Carolina,  against  the 
"Tariff  of  Abominations"  of  1828.  Nevertheless  the  tariff 
was  not  an  element  in  the  election  of  1828,  which  was  a 
personal  contest  between  Jackson  and  Adams.  Jackson  was 
elected. 


References  and  Topics  305 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  18. — John- 
son, I'nionand  Democracy,  314,  328.  —  Turner,  New  West,  6,  232,  242, 
260. 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  IX.  105-148,  188-197.  —  Babcock, 
Rise  of  Am.  Nationality,  chs.  xi-xiv.  —  Bassett,  U.S.,  345-349,  357- 
368,  377-390.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  184-203.  —  Dewey,  Financial 
Hist.,  §§  66-80.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  ch.  i.  — Johnson,  Union 
and  Democracy,  231-244,  266-269,  307-320,  324-345.  —  Lodge,  Daniel 
Webster,  60-166.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  IV.  280-372,376-380,484-521, 
V.  55-81,  109-120,  488-519.  —  Morse,  /.  Q.  Adams,  148-224.  —  Schou- 
ler,  U.S.,  II.  447-463,  III.  1-450  passim.  —  Schurz,  Henry  Clay,  I. 
126-321  passim. — Shepard,  Martin  Van  Buren,  chs.  iv,  v.  —  Stan- 
wood,  Am.  Tarijf  Controversies,  I.  111-348;  Presidency,  I.  chs.  ix-xii.  — 
Thayer,  John  Marshall.  —  Turner,  New  West,  chs.  i,  ix,  xi,  xiv-xvi, 
xviii,  xix.  —  Wilson,  Division  and  Reunion,  §§  8-10,  25-27. 

Sources.  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed.  Relations,  89-113,  133-157. — 
Beard,  Readings,  §§  46-48.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  309- 
321,  493.  —  Callender,  Econ.  Hist.,  ch.  x.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III. 
§§  130,  132-134;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  III.  365-383,  IV.  13-133 
passim.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xix.  — Johnson,  Readings,  §§  77,  78, 
87-90.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  33,  44,  45.  —  See  New  Engl. 
Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  83;  Syllabus,  341. 

Pictures.     Wilson,  Am.  People,  III. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Early  cotton,  or  woolen,  or  iron  mills.  [§  196]  —  (2)  John  Mar- 
shall as  a  boy  and  young  man.  [§  198]  —  (3)  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  from  1789  to  1830.  [§  198]  —  (4)  Public  services  of  James 
Monroe  previous  to  1817.  [§  199]  —  (5)  John  Quincy  Adams,  or  Andrew 
Jackson,  or  Martin  Van  Buren,  as  a  'boy  and  young  man.  [§  199]  — 
(6)  Antimasonic  party.  [§  202] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(7)  Wildcat  banks  before  1830.  [§  196]  —  (8)  Debate  on  the  tariff 
of  1816,  or"  on  the  second  United  States  Bank,  or  on  the  tariff  of  1824, 
or  on  the  "  Tariff  of  Abominations."  [§§  197,  201]  —  (9)  Was  the  first,  or 
the  second,  United  States  Bank  a  good  thing?  [§  197]  —  (10)  Daniel 
Webster'-s  part  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case.  [§  198]  —  (n)  Daniel 
Webster's  speeches  in  Congress.  [§  201] 


CHAPTER  XIX 

SOCIAL  AND  SECTIONAL   CONDITIONS   (1829-1841) 
204.  HUMANE  SENTIMENT 

THE  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  from  1800  to  1850, 
both  in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States,  was  full  of  a  splendid 
spirit  of  moral  reform.  One  of  the  results  of  the  American  and 
French  revolutions  was  to  sweep  away  the  old  belief  that  things 
must  be  right  because  they  existed.  The  influence  of  the 
principle  of  equality  was  to  upset  social  arrangements  that 
thrust  part  of  the  people  down  under  the  feet  of  another  part. 
The  serfs  in  Germany  were  emancipated.  The  antislavery 
forces  in  Great  Britain  compelled  Parliament  to  pass  a  gradual 
emancipation  act  for  her  colonies  in  America,  and  this  led  to 
complete  emancipation  in  1837.  In  1832  a  British  "Reform 
Act"  was  passed  which  destroyed  many  abuses  and  extended 
the  suffrage  in  Great  Britain  to  the  middle  class.  In  spite  of 
the  Holy  Alliance,  the  little  states  of  Germany  and  Italy  began 
to  demand  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  govern  themselves. 
Greece  revolted  from  Turkey,  and  by  the  aid  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Russia,  became  an  independent  kingdom  (1827). 
In  1830  there  was  a  second  French  revolution,  which  succeeded 
in  driving  out  the  Bourbon  king  and  enthroning  a  king  of  the 
Orleans  family,  who  ruled  under  a  liberal  constitution. 

The  same  spirit  was  at  work  in  the  United  States,  beginning 
with  the  movement  against  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  as  far 
back  as  1777  (§  112).  Public  attention  was  also  called  to  ter- 
rible abuses  in  the  treatment  of  other  poor,  weak,  and  friendless 
306 


Religious  Reform  307 

classes.  In  the  twenties  and  thirties,  for  example,  societies 
were  formed  against  imprisonment  for  debt;  and  their  cause 
was  much  strengthened  by  such  incidents  as  that  of  an  old 
Revolutionary  soldier  who  had  been  in  jail  for  seven  years 
because  he  was  unable  to  pay  a  debt  of  less  than  five  dollars. 
The  conditions  of  the  children  in  the  cities  were  found  to  be  bad, 
especially  the  large  numbers  who  were  working  in  factories,  and 
who  sometimes  spent  twelve  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  within 
the  walls  of  their  place  of  labor.  How  did  the  American  people 
deal  with  these  and  similar  difficulties? 

205.   RELIGIOUS  REFORM 

In  the  United  States  at  least  three  influences  —  religious, 
political,  and  social  —  were  at  work  side  by  side  to  lead  men  to 
a  more  kindly  and  humane  spirit  toward  their  fellows.  The 
influence  of  religion  and  of  the  organized  churches  was  far-reach- 
ing. The  Christian  and  Jewish  churches  agreed  in  holding 
that  all  human  beings  were  born  with  the  same  dignity,  the  same 
rights  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and  the  same  share  in  salvation. 
Therefore  the  Indians  and  the  negroes  and  the  poor  and  igno- 
rant white  people  were  all  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  hear- 
ing the  gospel  preached.  There  was  an  active  missionary 
spirit  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians,  among  whom  there  had 
been  missions  ever  since  the  founding  of  the  colonies.  Another 
similar  movement  was  that  for  home  missions  on  the  frontier, 
among  those  settlers  who  would  otherwise  grow  up  without 
churches  and  religious  teaching.  The  Sunday  School  move- 
ment, which  was  first  organized  by  Robert  Raikes  in  England, 
spread  to  this  country  and  became  an  essential  part  of  the 
church  organization  of  nearly  all  Protestant  bodies. 

A  large  part  of  the  Christian  church  held  the  doctrine  that 
the  heathen  whom  the  message  of  salvation  never  reached 
were  doomed  to  everlasting  punishment,  and  that  made  it  a 
solemn  duty  to  spread  the  tidings  as  far  as  possible.  For  this 
purpose  arose  a  great  movement  for  foreign  missions.  The 


3o&  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

Catholic  Church  had  always  had  a  missionary  organization,  and 
the  system  was  now  taken  up  by  the  Protestant  denominations. 
In  1806,  a  few  students  of  Williams  College,  taking  shelter  under 

a  haystack,  agreed  to  enter 
on  missions  among  the 
heathen  in  foreign  lands. 
The  idea  spread  rapidly, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  most  of  the  national 
churches  had  regular 
boards  which  were  in 
charge  of  active  missions 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
in  Africa,  and,  as  soon  as 
China  and  Japan  were 
opened  up,  in  those  coun- 
tries. 

Within  the  churches  new 
duties  were  assumed,  new 
societies  were  founded,  and 
several  denominations  were 
divided.  The  Unitarian 

HAYSTACK' MONUMENT,  WILLIAMSTOWN,    movement    in    New    Eng- 
MASSACHUSETTS.  land  broke  up  the  Congre- 

gational Church  into  two 

parts  commonly  called  Unitarian  and  Trinitarian,  or  Orthodox. 
The  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1837,  split  on  doctrinal  questions 
into  "New  School"  and  "Old  School."  The  Methodist 
Church,  in  1844,  divided  into  a  northern  and  a  southern 
church,  and  the  Baptist  Church  also  showed  a  disposition  to 
divide.  The  Catholic  Church  was  much  increased  by  steady 
immigration,  especially  from  Ireland  and  Germany. 

A  remarkable  new  organization,  commonly  called  the  Mor- 
mon Church,  was  founded  by  Joseph  Smith  of  Palmyra,  New 
York,  in  1829.  In  1830  he  published  what  he  called  the  Book 


Political  and  Humane  Reform  309 

of  Mormon,  which  he  alleged  to  be  a  miraculously  preserved 
account  of  the  settlement  of  America  by  the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel.  He  and  his  followers  built  a  temple  at  Kirtland,  Ohio ; 
in  1837  moved  to  Missouri ;  and  soon  after  to  Nauvoo,  Illinois, 
where  they  built  up  a  city  of  ten  thousand  adherents.  The 
neighborhood  disliked  the  Mormons,  and  Smith  was  killed  by 
a  mob  in  1844.  Three  years  later  most  of  the  Mormons 
moved  to  Utah,  then  an  unoccupied  part  of  Mexico. 

206.   POLITICAL  AND  HUMANE  REFORM 

Another  influence  was  that  of  the  doctrine  of  the  rights  of 
man  as  set  forth  in  declarations,  laws,  and  constitutions  of  the 
Revolution  and  later  times.  Thinking  men  began  to  realize 
that  workmen  were  not  really  free,  because  the  courts  would 
punish  them  if  they  made  a  combination  to  raise  wages.  The 
conditions  of  working  people  in  mines  and  factories  were  often 
very  bad,  and  the  employment  of  children  in  factory  labor  had 
begun.  These  difficulties  could  be  most  conveniently  reached 
by  state  laws. 

Perhaps  a  stronger  influence  was  that  of  the  many  societies 
based  on  the  new  spirit  of  humanity,  which  was  shocked  by  the 
cruelty  of  labor  systems  all  over  the  world,  and  by  the  harsh 
treatment  of  prisoners  for  debt  and  those  confined  as  criminals. 
To  better  the  condition  of  these  and  other  sufferers,  societies 
were  formed :  some  of  them  local,  some  of  them  national,  some 
of  them  with  a  sort  of  federal  organization  of  local  societies  which 
sent  delegates  to  an  annual  national  meeting.  These  organiza- 
tions were  very  effective  in  creating  public  sentiment  by  hold- 
ing meetings,  publishing  papers,  printing  tracts  and  books,  and 
petitioning  the  legislatures. 

A  class  of  professional  reformers  arose,  men  and  women  who 
spent  their  lives  in  urging  reforms,  and  who  traveled  about  the 
country  making  converts  to  their  causes.  Some  had  paid  em- 
ployment as  secretaries  and  managers  of  societies.  .Some  freely 
gave  both  their  time  and  their  means.  They  did  their  best, 
HART'S  NEW  AMEP.  HIST.  —  20 


Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

without  much  effect,  to  induce  the  churches  to  take  strong 
ground  in  favor  of  such  causes  as  temperance  and  antislavery. 
They  invited  foreign  agitators  to  come  over  ;  they  engaged 
reformed  criminals  to  warn  their  countrymen  against  crime  ; 
they  organized  and  agitated  and  created  public  opinion  to  their 
hearts'  content. 

207.   REFORMS  ACCOMPLISHED 

The  basis  of  these  movements  was  a  new  conception  of  the 
responsibility  of  the  state  and  local  governments  for  the  welfare 
of  the  people.  Concern  was  felt  even  for  the  condition  of  slaves 
and  of  convicts,  who  ha'd  previously  been  looked  upon  as  al- 
most outside  of  the  pale  of  humanity.  People  began  to  see  that 
brutality  to  prisoners  leads  to  brutality  to  free  men,  and  that 

punishment  is  useless  un- 
less it  leads  to  reform. 
The  first  modern  prison  in 
America  was  the  Eastern 
Penitentiary  at  Philadel- 
phia (finished  just  Before 
1830),  where,  in  order  to 
prevent  one  criminal  from 
contaminating  another,  the 
prisoners  were  shut  up  in 
separate  cells.  In  the 
course  of  the  twenties  and 
thirties  all  the  states  and 
the  federal  government 
passed  laws  releasing 


HEA  D™  debtors   wh°   had 


with  which  to  pay. 
Hospitals,  clean  and  well-kept  poorhouses,  orphan  asylums, 
and  institutions  for  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind,  also  began  to 
appear;  and  in  1841  came  forward  a  great  woman,  Dorothea 
Dix,  who  made  it  the  object  of  her  life  to  persuade  people  that 


Educational  Reform  311 

it  was  the  duty  of  the  state  governments  to  provide  public  asy- 
lums for  the  care  of  the  insane. 

Up  to  about  1840  spirituous  liquor  was  used  freely  by  all 
classes :  harvest  hands  received  it ;  it  was  a  part  of  the  regular 
ration  at  sea;  and  it  was 
often  served  even  at  funer- 
als. The  Washingtonian 
societies,  founded  in  1840, 
agreed  to  use  liquor  only 
in  moderation,  and  from 
that  it  was  a  short  step 
to  total  abstinence,  and  in 
1851  to  the  "Maine  Law," 
the  first  of  the  state  pro- 
hibition laws. 

A  strong  movement 
began  about  1830  for 
"  Woman's  Rights,"  in 
which  Frances  Wright, 
and  later  Lucy  Stone, 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  and 
others  were  leaders.  Their 
demand  for  good  schools 
for  girls  was  heard ;  girls 

were  admitted  to  the  pub-  LADY  IN  BLOOMER  COSTUME. 

lie  schools,  then  into  high 

schools ;  academies  were  founded  for  them ;  and  in  1833 
Oberlin  College  was  opened  to  women.  The  movement  soon 
spread  to  a  demand  for  woman  suffrage,  which,  however, 
was  nowhere  granted  till  more  than  a  generation  later.  Mrs. 
Bloomer  tried  in  vain  to  introduce  a  new  ladies'  costume. 

208.   EDUCATIONAL  REFORM 

The  idea  underlying  all  these  reform  movements  and  methods 
was  that  the  world  was  steadily  improving  and  that  by  a  vig- 


312  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

orous  effort  of  the  men  and  women  of  good  will,  it  could  be 
rapidly  brought  to  perfection.  All  the  heathen  were  to  be 
converted;  all  the  forces  for  evil  in  our  own  country  were  to 
be  destroyed;  free  government,  free  conscience,  and  free  dis- 
cussion were  to  make  the  United  States  the  best  and  happiest 
land  that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Virtue,  however,  needed 
to  be  backed  by  intelligence,  and  hence  the  reform  movement 
early  applied  itself  to  the  schools  of  the  country. 

The  states  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  now  adopted  the 
system  of  general  public  schools  supported  by  taxation.  The 
old  theory  was  that  schooling  was  like  the  use  of  roads  and 
bridges  —  the  people  who  want  them  ought  to  pay  for  them. 
That  idea  was  supplanted  by  the  great  conception  that  the 
state  ought  to  provide  for  the  education  of  all  the  children 
because  a  state  made  up  of  educated  people  is  stronger  and 
more  efficient.  Hence  childless  people  and  corporations  were 
required  to  pay  school  taxes  exactly  like  the  heads  of  large 
families. 

This  movement  did  not  much  affect'  the  southern  states, 
where  the  boys  of  well-to-do  families  were  educated  in  private 
schools,  and  till  years  later  there  was  no  adequate  system  outside 
of  town  and  city  public  schools.  Even  in  the  states  that  had 
longest  enjoyed  the  public  school  system,  the  schools  were 
doing  poor  work. 

Massachusetts,  under  the  guidance  of  Horace  Mann,  woke 
up  in  1837  to  the  fact  that  she  had  wretched  schoolhouses,  dull 
textbooks,  untrained  teachers,  and  ill-disciplined  pupils. 
Public  sentiment  was  aroused  in  the  state,  the  school  system 
was  improved,  the  people  began  to  tax  themselves  more  freely, 
and  a  state  Board  of  Education  was  formed.  The  first  normal 
school  for  the  training  of  teachers  was  establishecUin  1839. 
These  ideas  spread  from  state  to  state. 

The  system  of  state  universities  was  developed  in  1825  by 
the  founding  of  the  University  of  Virginia  (in  which  Jefferson 
was  specially  interested),  the  first  American  institution  on  the 


Growth  of  American  Literature 


313 


German  model,  offering  a  variety  of  elective  studies.  In  the 
thirties  Michigan  established  the  so-called  "  Epistemiad," 
which  developed  into  a  state  university.  In  1837  there  were 
over  seventy-five  endowed  colleges  in  the  country,  besides 
twelve  state  universities  and  various  kinds  of  special  and  tech- 
nical schools.  West  Point  Military  Academy  was  founded 
in  1802,  the  Naval  Academy  in  1846,  and  law  and  medical 
schools  by  1840  were  numerous. 

This  was  also  a  period  of  the  foundation  or  enlargement  of 
libraries  —  the  Astor  in  New  York,  the  Mercantile  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  Athenaeum  in  Boston,  and  many  others.  Museums 
of  art  and  science  were  opened  in  many  cities,  and  the  lyceum 
system  of  public  lectures  brought  into  towns  and  villages  the 
most  eminent  men  of  the  time. 

209.   GROWTH  OF  AMERICAN  LITERATURE 

Until  about  1830  most  of  the  American  essays,  poems,  novels, 
and  criticisms  were  simply  imitations  of  English  writers.  Even 
Washington  Irving  was,  intellectually,  an  Englishman  of  the 
school  of  Addison  and  Goldsmith,  but  he  sought  American 
subjects,  and  his  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York  (pub- 
lished 1809)  is 
one  of  the  most 
delightful  of 
American  sat- 
ires. Of  nov- 
elists the  only 
widely  known 
American  at 
that  time  was 
James  Feni- 
more  Cooper, 
who  began  in 

1821  to  publish  SUNNYSIDE,  WASHINGTON  IRVING'S  HOME  AT  TARRY- 
his  entrancing  TOWN,  NEW  YOBK. 


3 14  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

novels  of  Indian  life  and  character.  In  1833  Edgar  Allan  Po6 
began  his  wonderful  tales.  William  Cullen  Bryant  in  1811, 
when  seventeen  years  old,  touched  the  height  of  his  genius 
in  his  poem  of  Thanatopsis.  Other  great  writers,  such  as 
Hawthorne  and  Lowell,  though  they  began  to  publish  at  this 
time,  reached  their  zenith  later.  A  school  of  American  his- 
torians arose  with  the  bold  undertaking  of  George  Bancroft 
to  write  the  history  of  America  from  the  beginnings,  of  which 
the  first  volumes  came  out  in  1834;  and  a  little  later  (1837) 
appeared  William  H.  Prescott's  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  An- 
other important  book  was  the  first  edition  of  Noah  Webster's 
American  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  published  in 
1828. 

Educated  Americans  were  great  readers  of  the  English  quar- 
terly reviews;  and  in  1815  was  established  the  North  American 
Review,  for  many  years  an  intellectual  force.  Newspapers  began 
to  improve,  and  between  1833  and  1841  were  founded  the  New 
York  Daily  Sun,  the  first  one-cent  newspaper;  the  New  York 
Herald,  which  set  a  standard  in  the  search  for  news;  and 
Horace  Greeley's  New  York  Tribune,  an  example  of  breezy  per- 
sonal journalism.  They  were  reenforced  in  1849  by  the  Asso- 
ciated Press,  which  furnished  information  to  a  great  number  of 

papers. 

210.   SLAVE  LIFE 

The  spirit  of  social  reform  extended  very  slowly  to  the  South, 
which  was  not  kindly  disposed  to  new  ideas  that  might  upset 
its  rigid  class  system.  The  3,700,000  whites  of  the  South  in 
1830  were  divided  into  three  social  strata :  (i)  At  the  summit 
stood  from  25,000  to  30,000  members  of  the  families  of  large 
slaveholders;  in  a  few  cases  one  master  owned  as  many  as  a 
thousand  slaves.  These  people  were  the  social  and  political 
aristocracy;  they  furnished  the  governors,  the  judges,  the 
representatives  in  Congress,  and  the  senators.  (2)  About 
630,000  people  belonged  to  families  each  holding  from  one  to 
four  slaves ;  together  with  perhaps  500,000  prosperous  nonslave- 


Slave  Life 


holding  white  farmers,  they  made  up  the  active  working  com- 
munity. (3)  The  poor  whites,  numbering  about  2,500,000, 
had  neither  slaves  nor  property,  except  rough  land  and  miser- 
able buildings.  Outside  of  some  mountain  communities  they 
never  dreamed  of  using  their  votes  against  the  slaveholding 
aristocracy. 

Below  all  the  whites  were  180,000  free  negroes,  a  despised 
and  unhappy  class,  without  political  rights,  held  responsible 

for    most    of    the    petty     n=r— r— — -^— — -, 

crimes,  and  not  allowed  to 
move  about  freely.  At 
the  bottom  of  society  were 
2,000,000  African  slaves, 
the  people  from  whose 
physical  toil  came  most 
of  the  wealth  and  conse- 
quence of  their  masters. 

On  the  conditions  of 
slave  life  there  is  an  im- 
mense mass  of  conflict- 
ing testimony.  Fanny 
Kemble,  English  wife  of 
a  Georgia  planter, 
complained  of  sick  slave 


KEMBLE,  ABOUT  1X30. 


women  "prostrate  on  the 
earth,  without  bedstead,  bed  mattress,  or  pillow."  She  saw 
her  husband's  slaves,  including  sick  women,  going  to  the 
field  in  gangs,  each  with  a  slave  driver  armed  with  a  whip. 
She  saw  a  perfectly  faithful  slave  given  over  to  a  new  master 
who,  in  a  few  hours,  was  to  carry  him  away  forever  from  his 
father,  mother,  and  wife. 

At  the  other  extreme  is  the  picture  of  slavery  in  Virginia 
drawn  by  such  writers  as  Pollard  in  his  Black  Diamonds  — 
the  white  and  the  black  boys  growing  up  together,  friends  and 
playmates ;  the  master  listening  to  the  complaints  of  his  slaves ; 


316  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

and  the  white  mistress,  sweet  and  stately,  counseling  the  young 
and  protecting  the  aged.  "I  love  the  simple  and  unadulterated 
slave,  with  his  geniality,  his  mirth,  his  swagger,  and  his  non- 
sense ;  I  love  to  look  upon  his  countenance,  shining  with  con- 
tent and  grease;  I  love  to  study  his  affectionate  heart." 

These  views  conflict,  but  are  not  contradictory,  for  there 
were  many  kinds  of  slavery.  On  some  plantations  the  slaves 
were  felt  to  be  members  of  the  family ;  on  other  plantations  the 
life  of  the  slaves  was  a  round  of  dull  misery,  lighted  up  by  a 
few  jollifications.  The  house  slaves  were  well  fed,  had  light 
tasks,  and  were  often  petted  by  their  masters;  the  field  slaves 
were  often  overworked  and  abused.  The  right  to  own  a  slave 
included  the  right  to  sell  him,  and  there  was  no  legal  obliga- 
tion to  sell  families  together.  Heartbreaking  scenes  came  at  the 
auction  block ;  yet  the  next  day  the  slave,  torn  from  his  family, 
might  be  cheerfully  fiddling  on  his  way  to  the  dreaded  far  South. 

211.   SLAVERY  CONTROVERSY  (1831-1850) 

Slavery  had  been  under  discussion  in  both  North  and  South 
for  fifty  years ;  but  for  various  reasons  it  came  sharply  to  the 
front  after  1830 : 

(1)  The  slaves  were  not  contented,  as  was  shown  by  three 
risings:    the  Gabriel  insurrection  in  Virginia  in  1800;    a  plan 
to  destroy  Charleston,  formed  in  1820  by  Denmark  Vesey,   a 
free  negro;    and  a  bloody  insurrection  in  Southampton,  Vir- 
ginia (1831),  under  Nat  Turner,  a  slave. 

(2)  The  South  was  bent  on  expanding  the  boundaries  and  the 
influence  of  slavery,  and  enlarging  the  profits  of  slave  labor; 
the  result  was  the  appearance  of  northern  men,  like  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  protested  against  the  extension  of  slavery. 

(3)  The  free  states  grew  in  population  so  that  after  1833 
they  had  141  representatives  in  Congress,  as  against  99  from 
the  slave  states  (§  183). 

(4)  The  method  of  reform  through  societies  extended  to  the 
slavery  question.     Though  the  southern  abolition  movement 


Slavery  Controversy  317 

(§  183)  suddenly  collapsed  about  the  year  1830,  within  ten  years 
one  thousand  northern  abolition  societies  were  formed  with 
about  40,000  members;  and  they  demanded  the  immediate 
and  absolute  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves. 

Two  kinds  of  people,  often  not  clearly  separate,  took  ground 
against  slavery:    the  antislavery  men,  who  would  have  been 


AT  WORK  IN  A  COTTON  FIELD. 

satisfied  to  prevent  its  extension ;  and  the  abolitionists,  who 
wanted  to  destroy  it  where  it  already  existed.  Among  the 
abolitionists  there  were  three  groups :  western,  middle  states, 
and  New  England,  (i)  The  western  abolition  societies  were 
started  chiefly  by  former  slaveholders,  who  crossed  the  Ohio 
River  to  get  away  from  the  system.  Such  were  Rev.  John 
Rankin  and  James  G.  Birney.  (2)  The  middle  states  abolition- 
ists were  strong  in  Philadelphia,  the  city  of  New  York,  and 


318  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

central  New  York  state,  and  included  men  like  Arthur  and 
Louis  Tappan  and  Gerrit  Smith,  who  had  money  and  freely 
gave  it  for  the  cause.  (3)  The  New  England  group  included  the 
most  brilliant  opponents  of  slavery,  such  as  Wendell  Phillips, 
the  abolition  orator;  John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  the  abolition 
poet ;  Theodore  Parker,  the  abolition  parson ;  and  later  James 
Russell  Lowell,  the  abolition  satirist. 

Among  the  hundreds  of  northern  agitators,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  by  his  intense  devotion  to  the  cause,  has  somehow 
come  to  be  accepted  as  the  typical  abolitionist,  although  he 
differed  with  everybody  else,  and  always  represented  the  ex- 
tremest  principles.  Garrison  was  born  at  Newburyport,  Massa- 
chusetts (1805),  became  a  printer,  and  wandered  about  the 
country.  In  1830  he  went  to  jail  in  Baltimore  for  too  freely 
criticizing  a  slave  trader.  In  January,  1831,  Garrison  founded 
in  Boston  a  little  paper  which  he  called  the  Liberator,  and  which 
speedily  became  one  of  the  best-known  and  worst-hated  papers 
in  the  country.  From  the  platform  of  principles  which  he 
published  in  the  first  number,  he  never  swerved  throughout  his 
life.  He  "determined,  at  every  hazard,  to  lift  up  the  standard 
of  emancipation  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation." 

Garrison  was  a  one-sided  and  prejudiced  man,  who  never 
could  see  that  the  slaveholder  was  anything  but  a  robber  and 
murderer;  but  he  compelled  people  to  listen  to  him,  even  when 
he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  federal  govern- 
ment, because  it  protected  slavery ;  and  he  publicly  burned  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  calling  it  —  in  scriptural 
language  —  "a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with 

hell." 

212.   ABOLITION  SOCIETIES  (1830-1840) 

The  abolitionists  had  a  very  effective  method  of  agitation. 
Local  societies  were  federated  in  a  state  society,  which  held  an 
annual  meeting;  and  into  an  annual  national  convention. 
Meetings  and  local  conventions  were  held  from  time  to  time 
to  arouse  public  sentiment,  and  women  and  negroes  sat  on  the 


Abolition  Societies  319 

stage  and  took  part  in  the  exercises.  The  societies  prepared 
petitions  to  the  state  legislatures  and  to  Congress,  and  did 
everything  they  could  to  interest  people  and  to  make  them 
abolitionists.  Newspapers  were  founded,  tracts,  books,  and 
almanacs  were  prepared,  and  freely  illustrated  with  pictures  of 
the  horrors  of  slavery ;  and  one  college,  Oberlin,  admitted  negro 
students  and  became  the  western  center  of  the  abolition  senti- 
ment. 

The  abolitionist  meetings,  societies,  and  publications  caused 
an  astonishing  uproar.  In  the  South,  practically  nobody  was 
allowed  to  advocate  abolition ;  in  the  North  the  sensitive  city 
population  showed  its  horror  of  the  agitation  by  trying  to  mob 
the  abolitionists.  In  1835  an  antislavery  meeting  in  Boston 
was  broken  up  by  a  mob,  which  laid  hold  of  Garrison,  tied  a 
rope  about  his  body,  and  dragged  him  through  the  streets. 
In  1837  another  abolition  agitator  and  editor,  Elijah.  Lovejoy, 
was  murdered  by  a  mob  in  Alton,  Illinois,  because  he  persisted 
in  publishing  an  antislavery  paper  even  in  a  free  state.  Colored 
schools  were  broken  up,  and  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
colored  settlements  were  attacked.  Nobody  was  more  hated 
and  despised  than  the  abolitionist. 

The  abolition  societies  adopted  the  practice  of  sending  peti- 
tions asking  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  in  1835  William  Slade  of  Vermont  made  the 
first  abolition  speech  in  Congress.  This  led  to  a  series  of  so- 
called  Gag  Resolutions  (1836-1844),  by  which  the  House  for- 
bade any  debate  on  antislavery  petitions;  and  in  the  Senate, 
Calhoun  introduced  resolutions  fiercely  condemning  the  aboli- 
tionists. This  attempt  to  stop  discussion  aroused  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  insisted  on  the  right  to  argue  in  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress on  any  subject.  In  1837  and  again  in  1842,  attempts 
were  made  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  on  him  in  the  House ;  but 
Adams  warned  Congress  that  if  they  attempted  to  stop  petitions 
by  censuring  the  member  who  presented  them,  "they  would 
have  the  people  coming  besieging,  not  beseeching."  The  first 


320  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

western  abolitjonist  member  of  Congress,  Joshua  R.  Giddings 
of  Ohio,  appeared  in  1838,  and  he  made  it  the  main  purpose 
of  his  life  to  bring  about  slavery  debates  on  all  sorts  of  side 
questions,  in  spite  of  an  attempt  (1842)  to  close  his  lips  by  a 
vote  of  censure. 

213.   REVIEW 

The  period  from  1830  was  one  of  social  and  moral  reform. 
Despotism  was  losing  ground  in  Europe,  and  people  in  the 
United  States  were  growing  sympathetic  with  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant,  the  debtor  and  the  criminal.  In  the  churches  there 
was  a  strong  missionary  spirit,  which  led  to  a  system  of  mis- 
sions in  foreign  countries.  Sunday  Schools  were  founded,  and 
new  national  churches  were  created,  including  the  Mormon 
sect,  which  later  found  a  home  in  the  West.  Reform  was  much 
aided  by  humanitarian  societies,  local  and  national,  and  by  a 
class  of  men  and  women  who  gave  their  whole  energy  to  urging 
reforms.  Hence  humane  prisons  were  erected,  imprisonment 
for  debt  was  prohibited,  and  new  movements  were  put  forth  in 
the  cause  of  temperance  reform  and  for  the  rights  of  women. 

Public  schools  were  established  in  the  northern  states  that 
lacked  them,  and  were  improved  in  others.  The  first  important 
state  universities  were  founded,  and  also  professional  schools. 
This  was  the  Golden  Age  in  American  literature,  in  which 
the  leaders  were  Irving,  Cooper,  Hawthorne,  Bryant,  Lowell, 
Bancroft,  and  Prescott.  Great  newspapers  were  founded  and 
improved. 

The  old  abolitionist  movement  had  died  out  but  was  renewed 
under  the  new  impetus;  and  visitors  and  observers  began  to 
publish  accounts  of  the  conditions  of  slavery.  No  public  criti- 
cism of  slavery  was  allowed  in  the  South,  but  active  societies 
were  founded  in  all  parts  of  the  North ;  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
was  the  best-known  leader.  These  societies  began  to  petition 
Congress ;  and  there  was  no  stopping  them,  short  of  giving  up 
the  right  of  free  discussion  in  the  national  legislature. 


References  321 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  204.  —  Dodd,  Expan- 
sion and  Conflict,  169.  —  Hart,  Slavery  and  Abolition,  126,  230.  —  John- 
son, Union  and  Democracy,  299. 

Secondary.  Adams,  U.S.,  IX.  175-187,  198-242.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  ch.  xxi.  —  E.  E.  Brown,  Middle  Schools,  chs.  xi-xv ;  Origin  oj 
State  Universities. — W.  G.  Brown,  Lower  South,  16-49.  —  Collins, 
Domestic  Slave  Trade.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  149-154,  281-299.  — 
Hart,  Slavery  and  Abolition;  S.  P.  Chase,  28-91. — Linn,  Mormons, 
bks.  i-iv.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  IV.  522-569,  V.  82-108,  184-226,  284- 
432,  VI.  69-79,  94-113,  177-182,  270-298,  454-493,  VII.  74-99, 134-270- 
—  MacDonald,  From  Jcjfcrson  to  Lincoln,  ch.  iv ;  Jacksonian  Democ- 
racy, chs.  i,  xiv,  xv.  —  Page,  Old  South,  57-92,  143-185.  —  Rhodes,  U.S., 
I.  40-75,  303-383.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  III.  208-234,507-531,  IV.  1-31, 
176-180,  199-229,  296-303,  310-316,  422-429,  480. — Sheldon.  Student 
Life,  ch.  iv.  —  Sparks,  Expansion,  290-296,  376-41 8.  — Turner,  New  West, 
chs.  ii-iv,  x.  —  Wendell,  Literary  Hist.,  157-435.  —  See  also  refs.  toch.  xi. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  no.  10.  —  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed. 
Rels.,  193-223,  232-240.  —  Beard,  Readings,  §§  32-35.  —  Bogart  and 
Thompson,  Readings,  ch.  xvii.  —  Caldwell,  Survey,  148-156.  —  Cald- 
well  and  Persinger,  Source  Hist.,  387-395.  —  Callender,  Econ  Hist., 
ch.  xv.  —  Douglass,  Life  and  Times.  —  Harding,  Select  Orations,  nos. 
16,  17.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§151-157,  169-184;  Patriots 
and  Statesmen,  III.  333-335,  357-359,  IV.  64-382  passim,  V.  62-70, 
75-78,  153-155,  159-171,  252-257 ;  Source  Book,  II.  §§  94-101.  — James, 
Readings,  §§  62,  63,  76,  81. — Johnson,  Readings,  §§  108-115. — Old 
South  Leaflets,  nos.  78,  79,  81,  102,  135,  137-141,  144,  145,  148,  157, 
1 75,  1 80.  —  Olmsted,  Seaboard  Slave  States.  —  Smedes,  Southern  Planter, 
17-189.  — See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  85; 
Syllabus,  348. 

Illustrative.  Aldrich,  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy  (N.E.).  —  Belt,  Mirage  of 
Promise  (abolition).  —  Chesnutt,  Conjure  Woman  (slave  life).  —  Dou- 
gall,  Mormon  Prophet.  —  Eggleston,  Graysons ;  Hoosier  Schoolmaster 
(West).  —  Hale,  New  Engl.  Boyhood.  —  Harris,  Uncle  Remus.— 
Hawthorne,  Blithedale  Romance.  —  Johnston,  Old  Times  in  Middle 
Georgia.  —  Kester,  Prodigal  Judge  (S.W.).  —  Kirkland,  McVeys; 
Zury  (West).  —  Larcom,  New  England  Girlhood.  —  Longstreet,  Georgia 
Scenes.  —  Lowell,  On  the  Capture  of  Fugitive  Slaves;  Wendell  Phillips; 
W.  L.  Garrison.  —  Mitchell,  Doctor  Johns  (Conn.).  —  Stowe,  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin.  —  Tiernan,  Suzette  (Va.).  —  Tourgee,  Button's  Inn 
(Mormons).  —  Whittier,  Antislavery  Poems,  9-94. 


322  Social  and  Sectional  Conditions 

Pictures.  Mentor,  serial  nos.  77,  106,  109. — Sparks,  Expansion.  — 
Wilson,  Am.  People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  Rrferences  Above 

(i)  Incidents  of  imprisonment  for  derjHj^^204]  —  (2)  Influence  of 
Dorothea  Dix.  [§  207]  —  (3)  Early  tempMHte  societies.  [§  207]  — 
(4)  Career  of  one  of  the  following  :  Frances  \Vright ;  Lucy  Stone ; 
Susan  B.  Anthony.  [§  207]  —  (5)  Founding  fcif  one  of  the  following 
colleges:  Wesleyan;  Oberlin ;  Union;  North," 'Carolina ;  Michigan; 
Iowa.  [§  208]  —  (6)  Literary  career  of  one  of  the  following :  Irving ; 
Poe;  Cooper;  Bryant;  Hawthorne;  Lowell;  Bancroft;  Prescott; 
Noah  Webster;  Greeley.  [§  209]  —  (7)  Account  of  one  of  the  following 
slave  insurrections  :  Gabriel;  Denmark  Vesey  ;  Nat- Turner.  [§  211]  — 
(8)  Contemporary  account  of  an  abolition  meetin^^^  212]  —  (9)  The 
Garrison,  or  Lovejoy,  mob.  [§  212] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  Catholic  or  Protestant  missions  to  the  Indians.  [§  205]  — 
(n)  Beginning  of  the  Sunday  School  movement.  [§  205]  —  (12)  Mor- 
mon Church  to  1844.  [§  205]  —  (13)  New  England,  or  western,  public 
schools  previous  to  1830.  [§  208]  —  (14)  Early  days  at  one  of  the  fol- 
lowing:  University  of  Virginia;  West  Point;  Naval  Academy.  [§  208] 
—  (15)  Conditions  of  one  of  the  following  groups:  rich  slaveholding 
families ;  small  slaveholding  families ;  poor  whites ;  free  negroes  in 
the  North  ;  free  negroes  in  the  South  ;  slaves  in  the  border  states  ;  slaves 
in  the  lower  South.  [§  210]  —  (16)  Antislavery  activity  of  one  of  the 
following:  John  Rankin ;  James  G.  Birney ;  Arthur  Tappan ;  Louis 
Tappan;  Gerrit  Smith;  Wendell  Phillips;  John  Greenleaf  Whittier; 
Theodore  Parker;  James  Russell  Lowell.  [§  211] 


CHAPTER  XX 

NEW  POLITICAL  ISSUES   (1829-1841) 
214.   AMERICAN  DEMOCRACY  AND  JACKSON 

WHEN  Jackson  became  President  in  1829  (§  202),  the  prin- 
ciples of  American  democratic  government  had  in  many  ways 
advanced  much  further  than  in  1789:  (i)  Many  of  the  states 
had  rid  themselves  of  the  old  property  and  tax  qualifications 
for  officers  and  for  voters.  (2)  Nearly  all  the  important  state 
officers,  including  judges,  were  elected  by  popular  vote  instead 
of  being  chosen  by  the  legislature  or  governor,  as  formerly. 
(3)  By  the  system  of  "rotation  in  office "  state  and  local  elective 
officers  were  chosen  for  short  terms,  and  rarely  reelected  more 
than  once  or  twice.  (4)  The  idea  of  rotation  in  office  was 
extending  to  clerks  and  other  minor  officers  in  most  states  and 
municipalities.  (5)  The  cities  were  growing  rapidly  and  de- 
manded new  forms  of  government. 

Politics,  too,  had  lost  its  old  simplicity.  There  were  some 
leaders  of  the  type  now  called  party  bosses;  and  whatever 
party  might  be  in  power  in  a  state  tried  to  keep  in  power  by 
distributing  offices  as  rewards  to  its  followers.  Parties  often 
tried  to  perpetuate  their  power  by  the  "gerrymander";  that 
is,  by  so  arranging  the  boundaries  of  electoral  districts  that 
their  friends  should  carry  some  districts  by  small  majorities 
and  their  opponents  should  carry  fewer  districts  by  large 
majorities,  so  that  the  minority  might  rule.  Violence  at  the 
polls  was  frequent,  and  fraud  was  not  unknown.  The  party 
newspapers  were  still  unscrupulous  and  abusive. 
323 


324  New  Political  Issues 

215.   ANDREW  JACKSON 

The  most  noted  representative  of  the  new  democratic  prin- 
ciples was  President  Andrew  Jackson;  and,  except  Clay,  no 
man  in  all  the  West  was  so  widely  known,  so  experienced  in 
public  affairs,  and  so  capable  of  making  quick  decisions. 

In  personal  appearance 
Jackson  was  tall  and 
spare,  with  a  high  fore- 
head and  a  great  mane 
of  hair,  which  silvered 
while  he  was  President. 
A  lion  to  his  enemies, 
Jackson  was  the  soul  of 
courtesy,  and  to  ladies 
almost  a  Don  Quixote. 
All  his  life  long  he  was 
accustomed  to  lead  in 
the  community  and  in 
the  army ;  hence  he 
was  over-quick  to  make 
up  his  mind,  and  when 
he  had  once  come  to  a 

conclusion,    could   not 
ANDREW  JACKSON.     (From  a  daguerreotype.) 

be     moved     from     it. 

"Jack  Downing,"  a  political  humorist  of  the  time,  makes  him 
say,  "It  has  always  bin  my  way,  when  I  git  a  notion,  to  stick 
to  it  till  it  dies  a  natural  death ;  and  the  more  folks  talk  agin 
my  notions,  the  more  I  stick  to  'em." 

On  the  whole  Jackson's  instincts  were  right ;  he  hated 
monopoly  and  corporate  greed  and  private  advantage  from 
public  office.  He  saw  much  better  than  most  men  of  his  time 
the  dangers  likely  to  result  from  the  effort  of  the  national 
government  to  help  the  states  and  the  business  men.  His 
fault  was  that  he  looked  upon  the  government  as  a  kind  of 


Jackson's  Administration  325 

military  organization  in  which  it  was  treason  to  the  country  to 
interfere  with  the  orders  of  the  commanding  general.  If  he 
had  a  prejudice  against  a  man,  he  thought  that  man  his  enemy ; 
if  he  was  Jackson's  enemy,  of  course  he  must  also  be  an  enemy 
to  his  country.  Yet  it  is  true  that  Jackson  was  a  living  repre- 
sentative of  the  opinions  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  in  the 
United  States,  and  represented  them  more  directly  than  did 
the  members  of  Congress. 

216.   JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION  (1829-1837) 

Jackson's  military  principles  were  carried  into  his  appoint- 
ments. His  Cabinet  had  no  eminent  member  except  Martin 
Van  Buren  of  New 
York,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  often  called  "the 
Little  Magician,"  for 
his  urbanity  and  politi- 
cal shrewdness.  Along- 
side his  official  Cabinet 
was  a  group  of  personal 
friends  satirically  called 
the  "Kitchen  Cabinet," 
which  contained  the  real 
advisers  of  the  Presi- 
dent: it  included  Van 
Buren ;  Major  Eaton, 
Secretary  of  War ;  Amos 
Kendall,  later  brought 
into  the  post  office  de- 
partment to  dismiss  the 

THOMAS  H.  BENTON. 
local  postmasters;   and 

Duff  Green,  editor  of  the  Telegraph,  the  Jackson  newspaper 
organ.  It  was  a  mistake  to  appoint  other  men  to  the  Cabinet  if 
the  President  did  not  care  to  consult  them.  Thomas  H.  Benton, 
senator  from  Missouri,  was  one  of  the  strongest  Jackson  men. 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  21 


326  New  Political  Issues 

Never  before  that  time  had  a  President  been  so  beset  with 
office  seekers ;  and  the  principal  way  in  which  vacancies  could 
be  found  was  by  turning  out  those  who  already  held  office. 
To  the  day  of  his  death  Jackson  declared  that  no  man  was 
removed  in  his  administration  without  a  reason;  but  he  was 
easily  persuaded  that  hundreds  of  officers  were  lazy,  or  corrupt, 
or  politically  partisan.  Hence  in  his  eight  years  he  removed 
252  of  the  610  officers  appointed  by  the  President ;  and  nobody 
knows  how  many  clerks  and  subordinates  went  with  their 
chiefs.  The  vacancies  thus  made  were  filled  without  much 
discrimination,  and  the  Senate  threw  out  many  of  his  nomi- 
nations. Yet  it  is  an  injustice  to  Jackson  to  hold  him  respon- 
sible for  bringing  the  system  of  partisan  politics  to  Washington. 
He  really  meant  to  carry  out  what  he  called  "  the  task  of  reform," 
but  he  demoralized  the  public  service,  because  he  took  the  ad- 
vice of  people  intent  chiefly  on  their  own  political  fortunes. 
This  so-called  "  Spoils  System  "  was  much  aided  by  the  growth 
of  party  spirit  and  party  organization ;  when  a  party  captured 
the  presidency,  many  of  the  friends  of  the  other  party  were 
removed. 

217.  THE  BANK  AND  THE  TARIFF  (1829-1832) 

Jackson's  love  of  a  fight  and  his  hold  on  the  people  were 
brought  out  by  his  long  contest  with  the  United  States  Bank. 
That  bank  had  several  sets  of  enemies,  among  them  the  western 
state  banks,  of  which  there  were  about  three  hundred.  An- 
other group  was  created  when  Biddle,  president  of  the  bank, 
refused  to  remove  some  branch-bank  officers  and  to  substitute 
Jackson  men  (1829).  Its  most  dangerous  foe  was  Jackson, 
because  he  represented  an  enormous  constituency  of  farmers 
and  small  traders  who  were  convinced  that  the  eastern  capi- 
talists were  getting  more  than  their  share  of  the  annual  products 
of  the  country.  Jackson  believed  also,  and  with  reason,  that 
the  bank  sooner  or  later  would  become  a  political  force. 

Accordingly,  in  his  annual. messages  year  after  year  Jackson 


Nullification  and  the  Tariff  327 

repeated  a  warning  that  the  bank  was  dangerous,  unsound,  and 
unconstitutional.  In  1832,  as  the  presidential  election  was 
approaching,  the  friends  of  the  bank,  under  Clay's  leadership, 
made  up  their  minds  to  force  the  issue  into  the  campaign. 
They  therefore  passed  a  recharter  bill  in  both  houses,  four 
years  before  the  charter  of  1816  was  to  expire ;  and  Jackson, 
as  was  expected,  vetoed  it  (July  10,  1832). 

The  bank  question  was  for  a  time  pushed  aside  by  the  threats 
of  South  Carolina  to  nullify  the  offensive  tariff  acts.  The  tem- 
per of  the  states  was  shown  hi  a  debate  in  the  Senate  in  1830, 
in  which  Senator  Hayne  insisted  on  the  right  of  a  state  to  de- 
clare a  federal  statute  void  (§  152).  Webster  of  Massachusetts 
seized  the  opportunity  in  his  "Second  Reply  to  Hayne,"  to 
protest,  with  all  his  matchless  eloquence  and  national  spirit, 
not  so  much  against  Hayne  as  against  the  doctrines  of  the 
South  Carolina  Exposition  of  1828,  written  by  Vice  President 
Calhoun  (§  201). 

Jackson's  position  on  nullification  was  not  clearly  made 
known  till  April,  1830,  when,  at  a  dinner  on  Jefferson's  birth- 
day, he  was  called  on  for  a  toast  and  gave  "Our  Federal  Union : 
it  must -be  preserved."  A  few  weeks  later  Jackson  quarreled 
with  Calhoun  for  personal  reasons,  and  broke  off  relations  with 
the  Vice  President.  A  last  effort  was  made  to  get  Congress  to 
reduce  the  offensive  tariff,  and  a  new  tariff  was  passed  (July  14, 
1832) ;  but  Clay  saw  to  it  that  the  protective  duties  of  1824 
were  left  in,  and  some  of  them  raised ;  though  the  average  rate 
of  duty  was  reduced  to  about  34  per  cent. 

218.   NULLIFICATION  AND  THE  TARIFF  (1832-1833) 

In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1832,  the  direct  issue  was 
the  bank.  For  the  first  time  delegates  were  gathered  in  general 
party  nominating  conventions.  The  anti-Jackson  men  met 
in  a  "National  Republican  Convention,"  made  the  first  i  ational 
party  platform,  and  nominated  Henry  Clay.  Jackso.i  had 
already  been  nominated  by  members  of  several  state  k^isla- 


328  New  Political  Issues 

tures,  and  his  nomination  was  confirmed  by  a  "Democratic 
National  Convention,"  which  also  proposed  Van  Buren  for 
Vice  President.  In  the  election,  part  of  New  England,  with 
Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky,  went  for  Clay ;  and  the 
rest  of  the  South  (except  South  Carolina)  and  the  West,  with 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  voted  for  Jackson,  who  had  219 
electoral  votes  to  49  for  Clay,  and  690,000  popular  votes  to 
530,000. 

Jackson  accepted  the  election  of  1832  as  an  approval  of  his 
past  course,  and  also  of  all  the  things  that  he  meant  to  do  in 
the  future ;  and  something  had  to  be  done  very  soon  in  South 
Carolina.  A  convention  of  the  state,  elected  for  that  sole 
purpose,  passed  a  Nullification  Ordinance  (November  24,  1832) 
declaring  the  tariff  acts  of  1828  and  1832  to  be  "null,  void,  and 
no  law,  nor  binding  upon  this  State,  its  officers  or  citizens." 
This  action,  which  was  a  revival  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Resolutions  (§  152),  was  taken  by  Jackson  as  a 
personal  affront.  He  issued  a  proclamation  (December  n), 
warning  the  people  of  South  Carolina  against  "the  illegal  and 
disorganizing  action  of  the  convention."  At  Jackson's  request, 
an  act,  popularly  called  the  "Force  Bill"  or  "Bloody  Bill," 
was  passed  by  Congress  (March  2,  1833),  giving  the  President 
more  power  to  raise  forces  to  meet  such  a  crisis. 

South  Carolina  began  to  raise  troops,  and  the  country  was 
full  of  excitement.  Calhoun  resigned  the  vice  presidency  and 
came  back  to  the  Senate  in  1833,  in  order  to  defend  his  doc- 
trines in  debates  with  Webster.  In  the  end  South  Carolina 
really  carried  her  point,  for  the  majority  of  Congress  believed 
that  the  South  was  wronged  by  the  tariff.  Under  Clay's  leader- 
ship, by  the  Compromise  tariff  of  1833  (March  2)  Congress 
provided  that  the  rates  should  be  reduced  at  intervals  till  1842, 
when  they  were  all  to  come  down  to  20  per  cent.  Since  the 
purpose  of  nullification  was  thus  reached  without  actually 
applying  it,  all  plans  of  resistance  were  dropped  by  South 
Carolina. 


State  Rights  Theories  of  Calhoun  329 


219.   STATE  RIGHTS  THEORIES  OF  CALHOUN 

For  the  ideas  and  arguments  behind  the  nullification  move- 
ment, we  must  look  to  the  addresses  and  speeches  of  John  C. 
Calhoun.  Calhoun  came  of  the  vigorous  Scotch-Irish  race; 
he  was  born  in  1782  in  South  Carolina  and  entered  Congress  in 
1811.  As  Monroe's  Secretary  of  War  (1817-1825)  he  was  very 
efficient,  and  as  Vice  President  (1825-1832)  he  was  long  looked 
upon  as  the  probable  suc- 
cessor to  Jackson.  In 
1828  he  made  a  square 
turn  against  the  use  of  na- 
tional authority  through 
implied  powers  (§  141) 
and  worked  out  his  doc- 
trine of  nullification  —  a 
doctrine  which  was  a 
magazine  of  argument  for 
the  secessionists  at,  the 
time  of  the  Civil  War.  It 
may  be  divided  into  three 
parts — the  grievance,  the 
nature  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment, and  the  remedy : 

(1)  Calhoun 's  grievance 
was    that    without    any 
constitutional  warrant,  by 
the  "tyranny  of  the  ma- 
jority," the  tariff  took  a  tax  out  of  the  pocket  of  the  planters, 
and  brought  them  no  advantage. 

(2)  His  theory  of  the  government  was  that  "the  Union  is  a 
union  of  states  and  not  of  individuals" ;   that  the  Constitution 
is  a  "compact"  made  by  the  states;  and,  as  in  any  other  con- 
tract, if  the  states  on  one  side  failed  to  observe  the  limitations 
of  the  Constitution,  the  other  states  were  freed  from  their  obliga- 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN,  ABOUT  1850.     (From 
a  daguerreotype.) 


330 


New  Political  Issues 


tion.  He  insisted  that  the  federal  system  had  no  independent 
existence  and  was  not  a  real  government,  but  only  an  "agency." 
(3)  Calhoun  shrank  from  the  logical  policy  of  secession ;  he 
proposed,  instead,  the  remedy  of  nullification,  by  which  -the 
people  of  South  Carolina  were  simply  to  refuse  to  obey  the 
tariff  acts,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  unconstitutional. 
For  the  federal  government  to  bring  suits  to  enforce  the  acts, 
or  to  use  force,  seemed  to  Calhoun 's  mind  an  act  of  war,  which 
would  dissolve  the  Union ;  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  other 
states  would  come  to  the  rescue. 

220.  NATIONAL  THEORIES  OF  WEBSTER 

The  spokesman  of  the  national  theory  of  government  was 
Daniel  Webster,  born  in  1782  in  New  Hampshire.    He  graduated 

from  Dartmouth  College.' 
In  1813  he  was  sent 
to  Congress  from  New 
Hampshire;  then  in  1823 
from  Massachusetts,  and 
in  1828  to  a  senator's  seat 
from  Massachusetts,  which 
he  occupied  most  of  his  life 
thenceforth,  with  two  inter- 
vals of  service  as  Secretary 
of  State.  Webster's  the- 
ory of  the  government  was 
substantially  as  follows : 

(i)  He  scouted  the  idea 
that  the  Constitution  is 
a  compact,  and  called  it 
an  "instrument  of  govern- 
ment" for  a  nation.  "It 
DANIEL  WEBSTER.  .  _.  .  .  .  „, 

is,  Sir,  the  people  s  Consti- 
tution, .  .  .  made  by  the  people,  and  answerable  to  the  people.  .  .  . 
We  are  all  agents  of  the  same  supreme  power,  the  people." 


Public  Deposits  and  Speculation  331 

(2)  In  language  which  rang  throughout  the  Union,  he  denied 
the  right  of  nullification  and  declared  the  great  principle  that 
the  states  could  no  more  destroy,  the  Union  than  the  Union 
could  destroy  the  states ;  for  both  were  founded  on  the  consent 
of  the  American  people,  taken  as  a  whole. 

(3)  On  the  question  who  should  decide  in  disputes  as  to 
federal  powers,  he  held  that  the  Constitution  provided  a  mode 
"for  bringing  all  questions  of  constitutional  power  to  the  final 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court." 

Webster's  speeches  were  widely  read  and  became  the  familiar 
doctrine  in  the  North,  especially  in  the  crisis  of  the  Civil  War. 
One  of  the  phrases  just  quoted  appears  in  a  little  different  form 
in  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address  of  1863. 

221.   PUBLIC  DEPOSITS  AND  SPECULATION   (1833-1837) 

When  the  nullification  trouble  was  out  of  the  way,  Jackson 
returned  with  energy  to  the  United  States  Bank,  which  he 
attacked  with  all  his  might  because  he  was  under  the  mistaken 
belief  that  it  was  secretly  bankrupt.  He  therefore  ordered  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Duane,  to  stop  depositing  govern- 
ment funds  in  the  bank  (September,  1833).  When  Duane 
refused,  Jackson  removed  him  and  appointed  in  his  place 
Roger  B.  Taney,  who  gave  the  necessary  orders.  This  was  a 
terrible  blow  to  the  prestige  of  the  bank.  Jackson  held  with 
justice  that  it  was  the  right  of  the  President  to  perform  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  constitutional  duty,  subject  to  impeachment 
or  to  public  opinion.  The  approval  of  the  country  was  shown 
in  1834,  when  majorities  of  Jackson  men  were  elected  to  both 
the  House  and  the  Senate.  The  deposits  were  never  restored, 
and  when  the  national  charter  expired  in  1836,  the  bank  was 
obliged  to  accept  a  Pennsylvania  state  charter  in  order  to  con- 
tinue business. 

By  this  time  it  was  a  tradition  that  no  President  should  serve 
more  than  two  terms,  and  Jackson  secured  the  nomination  of 
Van  Buren  by  the  Democratic  convention  of  1836.  The  oppo- 


332  New  Political  Issues 

sition,  now  called  "Whigs,"  were  too  discouraged  to  make  a 
party  nomination,  and  Jackson's  popularity  pulled  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  through  by  170  electoral  votes  to  124  scattered 
among  four  Whig  candidates. 

Before  Van  Buren  took  office  in  1837,  the  country  was  ap- 
proaching the  worst  financial  panic  that  it  has  ever  known. 
The  main  reasons  for  this  calamity  were  the  bad  conditions  of 
currency,  banking,  and  speculative  business. 

(i)  When  the  notes  of  the  United  States  Bank  were  retired, 
the  only  currency  was  depreciated  state  bank  notes,  for  specie 
was  almost  out  of  circulation. 

.  (2)  The  banking  business  was  in  poor  shape.  Western  and 
southwestern  banks  received  large  government  deposits  and 
lent  the  funds  to  buyers  of  public  lands. 

(3)  Prices  of  cotton  and  other  products  rose  so  fast  that 
everybody  seemed  to  be  getting  rich.  The  states  found  that 
they  had  credit  abroad  and  ran  up  public  debts  amounting  to 
$170,000,000. 

222.     PANIC   OF    1837   AND  ITS   CONSEQUENCES    (1835-1840) 

Speculation  was  especially  lively  in  the  western  lands.  To 
check  it,  Jackson  issued  a  Specie  Circular  (1836)  directing  that 
nothing  but  gold  and  silver  should  thenceforth  be  received  for 
the  public  lands.  In  1835  the  national  debt  was  extinguished 
and  a  surplus  began  to  run  up.  People  supposed  that  there 
would  be  a  surplus  every  year  indefinitely,  and  Congress  passed 
the  Deposit  Act  (June,  1836)  for  transferring  to  the  states 
about  $36,000,000.  The  money  had  to  come  out  of  the  banks 
holding  government  deposits,  and  that  brought  on  the  crash. 
In  May,  1837,  all  the  banks  in  the  country  suspended  specie 
payment  of  their  notes.  Nine  tenths  of  the  business  men  in 
the  country  went  bankrupt.  Many  of  the  states  ceased  pay- 
ing interest  on  their  state  debts,  and  three  of  them  repudiated 
their  outstanding  public  debts  to  the  amount  of  about 
$20,000,000.  The  building  of  railroads  and  canals  received  a 


Foreign  Policy  and  Texas  333 

shock,  and  it  was  five  or  six  years  before  commercial  prosperity 
returned. 

The  "pet  banks"  eventually  turned  over  to  the  government 
$28,000,000  of  public  funds  under  the  Deposit  Act,  and  it  was 
duly  transferred  to  the  states.  Some  of  the  states  spent  the 
money  on  canals,  some  in  payment  of  old  debts,  some  for  educa- 
tion, and  a  few  states  simply  divided  it  among  the  voters.  Slowly 
the  country  struggled  up  again  ;  though  in  a  second  and  lighter 
crash  (1839),  the  old  United  States  Bank  went  completely  to 
ruin.  Some  of  the  states,  especially  New  York,  had  provided, 
against  such  a  calamity,  a  system  of  banking  laws,  under  which 
the  state  banks  were  required  to  keep  on  hand  specie  to  redeem 
any  notes  that  might  be  presented. 

A  notable  act  of  Congress  during  Van  Buren's  administration 
was  a  statute  of  1840  for  an  independent  treasury,  or  sub- 
treasury,  as  it  was  often  called,  requiring  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment to  keep  its  balances  in  its  own  vaults. 

223.   FOREIGN  POLICY  AND  TEXAS  (1829-1841) 

Jackson  was  not  exactly  what  is  called  a  diplomatic  man, 
but  in  his  relations  with  foreign  countries  he  was  on  the  whole 
successful.  From  Great  Britain  he  secured  the  long-desired 
privilege  of  carrying  on  West  India  trade  in  American  ships 
(§  1 10) ;  and  he  refused  to  carry  out  an  arbitration  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Maine  boundaries.  By  rather  undignified  threats, 
he  compelled  France  to  make  a  settlement  (1836)  of  the  "French 
Spoliation  Claims,"  for  captures  of  American  merchantmen, 
claims  which  had  been  running  ever  since  1803. 

The  most  serious  foreign  question  of  the  time  was  the  atti- 
tude of  the  United  States  toward  "Texas,"  as  the  Mexicans 
named  the  region  southwest  of  Louisiana.  Americans  had  long 
looked  with  desire  upon  this  broad,  rich  land,  and  in  1819 
Moses  Austin  and  his  son  Stephen  F.  Austin,  originally  Con- 
necticut men,  secured  large  land  grants  from  Spain.  When 
Mexico  became  independent  (1821)  the  new  government  con- 


334  New  Political  Issues 

firmed  the  grants,  and  thousands  of  settlers  poured  in,  many 
of  them  from  the  southern  states  and  many  with  their  slaves. 
Both  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Andrew  Jackson,  in  the  hope  of 
bringing  the  wandering  children  back  under  the  home  roof, 
made  several  vain  attempts  to  buy  Texas. 

By  1836  the  Americans  in  Texas  felt  so  strongly  that  they 
were  a  separate  people,  that  they  openly  declared  their  inde- 
pendence, and  drew  up  a  constitution  under  which  slavery  was 
made  legal.  A  few  days  later,  the  fortified  church  of  the  Alamo 
in  San  Antonio  was  taken  by  a  Mexican  force  after  a  brave  de- 
fense, and  every  American  defender  was  killed.  This  massacre 
sowed  undying  hatred.  The  Texans  could  not  be  conquered 
by  Mexico,  and  asked  to  be  made  a  state  of  the  Union,  claiming 
a  boundary  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  "then  up  the 
principal  stream  of  the  said  river  to  its  source."  Jackson 
would  have  been  glad  to  meet  this  demand,  but  there  was  such 
a  strong  feeling  in  the  North  against  bringing  in  more  slave- 
holding  territory  that  he  contented  himself  by  securing  the 
recognition  of  Texan  independence.  For  eight  years,  therefore, 
the  United  States  regularly  exchanged  dispatches  and  messages 
with  Texas.  Van  Buren,  as  a  northern  man,  felt  no  interest 
in  annexation,  and  he  did  his  best  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  Mexico  by  a  settlement  of  claims  for  losses  and  injuries 
suffered  in  that  country  by  American  citizens. 

224.   REVIEW 

The  twelve  years  of  Jackson's  influence,  which  included  Van 
Buren's  administration  (1837-1841),  were  marked  by  great  ac- 
tivity in  public  life.  Suffrage  and  omcehokling  wecc  made 
easier.  At  the  same  time  party  organization  became  stiffer, 
and  tended  to  submit  to  personal  control.  Andrew  Jackson 
represented  these  new  tendencies  toward  a  broader  democracy, 
though  he  had  the  fault  of  looking  on  all  public  questions  as  more 
or  less  personal.  He  made  the  mistake  of  appointing  a  Cabi- 
net which  he  did  not  fully  trust,  and  of  removing  a  large  number 


References  335 

of  public  officials  because  he  was  led  to  believe  that  they  were 
corrupt  or  inefficient. 

Jackson  attacked  the  United  States  Bank  and  after  several 
years  of  controversy  succeeded  in  preventing  its  recharter. 
The  protest  of  South  Carolina  against  the  tariff  brought  on 
the  famous  Webster-Hayne  debate  of  1830,  shortly  after  which 
Jackson  openly  took  the  side  of  the  Union. 

Jackson  was  reflected  in  1832,  mainly  on  the  bank  issue,  and 
at  once  moved  against  the  theory  of  the  government  put  forth 
by  Calhoun  under  the  name  of  "  nullification  "  (1828).  The  state 
of  South  Carolina  in  1832  adopted  an  ordinance  intended  to 
nullify  the  tariff  laws.  Jackson  opposed,  and  would  have  used 
force  against  the  nullifiers.  Nevertheless  by  the  compromise 
of  1833,  Congress  gave  way  on  the  tariff  issue,  and  nullification 
was  not  put  to  the  test.  On  the  other  hand  Daniel  Webster 
stated  the  national  theory  of  government  in  a  way  that  was 
never  forgotten. 

Jackson  ordered  the  removal  of  the  government  deposits  in 
the  United  States  Bank  in  1833.  Bad  banking  led  to  specula- 
tion in  the  public  lands,  and  was  not  stopped  by  Jackson's  Specie 
Circular  of  1836,  nor  by  the  Deposit  Act  of  the  same  year  for 
turning  over  the  cash  surplus  of  the  government  to  the  states. 
A  commercial  panic  in  1837  was  the  worst  the  country  has  ever 
seen.  During  this  period  Jackson  was  settling  the  French  Spolia- 
tion Claims,  and  tried  unsuccessfully  to  bring  the  country  to  the 
point  of  annexing  the  new  republic  of  Texas. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  map,  p.  346.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and 
Conflict,  49,  66,  92.  —  Hart,  Slavery  and  Abolition,  8,  52,  300.  — Mac- 
Donald,  Jacksonian  Democracy,  4,  130,  214,  258. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  Andrew  Jackson,  II.  chs.  xx-xxxii;  U.S., 
392-426,  432-435.  —  Brown,  Andrew  Jackson,  118-156.  —  Coman, 
Econ.  Beginnings  of  the  Far  West,  II.  94-109.  —  Dewey,  Financial  Hist., 
§§  81-101.  —  Dodd,  Expansion,  and  Conflict,  chs.  iv-vi.  —  Fish,  Am. 
Xatlonality,  184-248.  —  Garrison,  Texas,  chs.  xi-xx;  Westward  Exteii- 


336  New  Political  Issues 

sion,  ch.  vi.  —  Hart,  Slavery  and  Abolition,  ch.  xx.  —  Hunt,  J.  C. 
Calhoun,  chs.  ix-xv.  — Lodge,  Daniel  Webster,  166-234.  —  McMaster, 
U.  S.,  V.  2-13,  519-556,  VI.  1-68,  114-270,  299-420,  458-463,  494-513, 
523-549.  —  MacDonald,  From  Jejferson  to  Lincoln,  ch.  iii ;  Jacksonian 
Democracy,  chs.  ii,  iv-vii,  ix,  xi-xiii,  xvii,  xviii.  —  Peck,  Jacksonian 
Epoch,  123-472.  —  Roosevelt,  T.  H.  Benton,  63-139,  151-209. — 
Schouler,  U.  S.,  III.  451-506,  IV.  31-121,  132-199,  229-296,  316-352.  — 
Schurz,  Henry  Clay,  I.  322-384,  II.  chs.  xiv-xvi,  xviii-xx.  —  Shepard, 
Van  Buren,  chs.  vi-x,  xii.  —  Stanwood,  Presidency,  I.  chs.  xiii-xvi. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  24,  30.  —  Ames,  State  Docs,  on 
Fed.  Rels.,  158-189,  225-228.  —  Beard,  Readings,  §§  39,  49-51.  — 
Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  321-327,  496-503.  —  Caldwell  and 
Persinger,  Source  Hist.,  354-378.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§  158- 
164,  185,  186;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  IV.  135-140,  154-329  passim.  — 
Johnston,  Am.  Orations,  I.  233-334,  IV.  202-237.  —  See  New  Engl. 
Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  84;  Syl^is,  345-348. 

Illustrative.  Barr,  Remember  the  Alamo.  —  Davis,  Letters  of  J. 
Downing,  Major.  —  Dillon,  Patience  of  John  Morland.  —  Munroe, 
With  Crockett  and  Bowie.  —  Simms,  Border  Beagles;  Richard  Hurdis. 

Pictures.     Sparks,   Expansion.  —  Wilson,   Am.   People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Objections  to  the  "Kitchen  Cabinet."  [§  216]  —  (2)  Instances 
of  removals  of  officials  by  Jackson.  [§  216]  —  (3)  Career  of  Nicholas 
Biddle.  [§  217]  —  (4)  Contemporary  accounts  of  the  Webster-Hayne 
debate.  [§  217]  —  (5)  Why  did  Jackson  quarrel  with  Calhoun?  [§  217] 
—  (6)  Incidents  of  the  election  of  1832.  [§  218]  —  (7)  Incidents  of  the 
South  Carolina  Nullification  Convention.  [§  218]  —  (8)  Public  career 
of  Roger  B.  Taney.  [§  221]  —  (9)  Wildcat  state  banks  from  1830  to 
1840.  [§  221]  —  (10)  Incidents  of  the  panic  of  1837.  [§  222]  —  (n) 
Career  of  Moses  Austin,  or  of  Stephen  F.  Austin.  [§  223]  —  (12)  Life 
in  Texas  before  1835.  [§  223]  —  (13)  Siege  and  capture  of  the  Alamo. 
[§  223] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(14)  Why  were  the  qualifications  for  voters  made  easier?  [§  214]  — 
(15)  Why  were  judges  elected  instead  of  appointed?  [§  214]  —  (16)  De- 
bates on  the  tariff  of  1833.  [§  218]  —  (17)  What  did  Calhoun  mean  by 
"compact"?  [§  219]  —  (18)  Contemporary  accounts  of  Webster's 
ideas  on  the  Constitution.  [§  220]  — -  (19)  Was  the  second  United  States 
Bank  dangerous?  [§  221]  —  (20)  What  were  the  "French  Spoliation 
Claims  "?  [§  223] 


CHAPTER  XXI 


ADVANCE  TO  THE  PACIFIC   (1841-1850) 

225.  WHIG  POLITICS  (1840-1842)  AND  LOCAL  DISORDERS 

(1837-1842) 

BY  the  election  of  1840,  there  was  a  change  in  party  control 
for  the  first  time  since  the  new  tariff  system.  The  anti- Jackson 
men,  or  Whigs,  succeeded  in  electing  William  Henry  Harrison 
of  Ohio  over  Van  Buren,  whom  the  Democrats  nominated  for 
a  second  term.  It  was  • 
a  boisterous  campaign, 
full  of  great  mass  meet- 
ings. Somebody  said 
that  Harrison  was  fit 
only  to  sit  in  his  log 
cabin  and  drink  hard 
cider ;  the  Whigs  took 
up  the  slur;  and  log 
cabins  on  wheels, 
amply  provided  with 
barrels  of  hard  cider, 
were  used  as  a  popular 
argument  to  voters. 
The  Democrats  were 
beaten  by  the  hard 
times,  securing  only  60 

electoral  votes  against  234.     Harrison  had  a  popular  majority 
of  about  140,000.     The  Whigs,  who  were  in  control  of  both 
houses  of  the  next  Congress,  set  out  to  recharter  a  national 
337 


HARRISON  CAMPAIGN  SYMBOL  OF  1840,  AS 

DISPLAYED   ON   A   HANDKERCHIEF. 


338  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

bank,  to  spend  money  freely  for  internal  improvements,  and  to 
revive  a  protective  tariff. 

Harrison  died  a  month  after  his  inauguration  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Vice  President,  John  Tyler  of  Virginia,  who  was 
really  not  a  Whig  at  all.  He  therefore  vetoed  two  bank  bills 
and  two  tariff  bills,  whereupon  all  the  Whig  Cabinet,  except 
Webster,  resigned.  Tyler  finally  accepted  the  tariff  of  1842, 
which  ignored  the  compromise  agreement  of  1833  (§  218)  and 
raised  the  average  duties  from  about  24  per  cent  to  about  35 
per  cent.  Throughout  the  rest  of  his  administration,  Tyler 
could  find  neither  Whig  nor  Democratic  support,  and  quarreled 
with  Congress. 

The  late  thirties  and  early  forties  were  a  time  of  disorder  and 
disturbance.  Besides  the  antislavery  riots  (§  212),  there  were 
violent  riots  against  foreigners;  and  in  1837  a  Catholic  convent 
near  Boston  was  burned  to  the  ground  by  an  anti-Catholic 
mob.  In  two  of  the  states  there  were  serious  outbreaks : 

(1)  In  1839,  certain  landholders  in.  central  New  York  held 
"Antirent"  meetings  to  protest  against  the  payment  of  a  per- 
manent annual  ground  rent,  or  "quitrent,"  amounting  to  from 
$7  to  $18  a  year  per  hundred  acres.     After  several  years  of 
violence,   the  landlords   accepted  lump  money  payments  for 
their  claims. 

(2)  Rhode  Island  was  the  scene  of  the  movement  commonly 
called  the  "Dorr  Rebellion"  (1842).     The  so-called  rebels  were 
trying  to  secure,  by  irregular   methods,  a  more  liberal   state 
constitution  with  manhood  suffrage.     Dorr,  the  most  prominent 
man  in  the  agitation,  was  arrested  and  convicted  of  treason. 
Practically   he   accomplished    his   work,   for   the   government 
proceeded    to  make  a   new  constitution   and  to  enlarge    the 
suffrage. 

226.  THE  MAINE  BOUNDARY  (1821-1842) 

Alongside  the  political  questions  of  the  day  came  several 
matters  of  foreign  policy.  Between  1842  and  1846  the  bounda- 


The  Maine  Boundary  339 

ries  of  the  United  States  were  settled  for  Maine,  Oregon,  and 
Texas. 

The  controversy  over  the  boundary  between  Maine  and  New 
Brunswick  began  with  the  Treaty  of  1783,  under  which  the 
line  was  to  run  "from  the  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia, 
viz.  that  angle  which  is  formed  by  a  line  drawn  due  north  from 
the  source  of  Saint  Croix 
River  to  the  Highlands; 
along  the  said  Highlands 
which  divide  those  rivers 
that  empty  themselves 
into  the  river  St.  Law- 
rence, from  those  which 
fall  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  to  the  north  west- 
ernmost head  of  Con- 
necticut River."  It  was 
soon  found  that  the  two 
governments  did  not  agree 
as  to  what  stream  was  the 
St.  Croix,  nor  where  to 
locate  the  northwest  angle, 
nor  where  the  Highlands 
were,  nor  even  what  was 
meant  by  "Atlantic 
Ocean." 

When  an  attempt  was 
made  to  run  the  line  (1821) 

the  British  insisted  that  the  "Highlands"  was  a  divide  south  of 
the  St.  John  River.  The  Americans  with  far  better  reason  found 
the  "Highlands"  125  miles  farther  north,  on  the  divide  just 
south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  local  authorities  almost  came 
1o  blows  in  the  "Aroostook  War"  (1838).  Webster  remained  in 
Tyler's  Cabinet  long  enough  to  settle  this  question :  in  1842 
he  negotiated  the  Webster- Ashburton  treaty,  by  which  tin-  dis- 


NORTHEAST  BOUNDARY. 


340  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

puted  territory  was  divided,  and  each  party  got  about  half. 
The  settlement  was  creditable  and  satisfactory  to  both  sides, 
and  ended  a  controversy  that  threatened  to  bring  on  war. 

227.   EXPLORATION  OF  THE  INTERIOR  (1820-1845) 

After  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition  to  Oregon,  and  Pike's 
explorations  (§  160),  little  was  done  by  the  government  to 
explore  the  interior;  but  the  fur  traders  followed  every  im- 
portant stream  and  opened  up  many  routes  across  the  Rockies. 
After  1820  trade  was  developed  with  New  Mexico  over  the 
"Santa  Fe  trail,"  a  road  leading  southwestward  from  Inde- 
pendence on  the  Missouri  River  to  the  Rio  Grande  (map,  page 
372).  In  1832,  a  party  under  Bonne ville  crossed  the  Rockies 
with  a  wagon  by  the  Platte  route  and  went  as  far  west  as  Great 
Salt  Lake ;  some  of  his  men  even  went  on  to  the  Pacific. 

The  Oregon  fur  trade  was  an  object  of  great  desire  and  before 
1830  the  traders  discovered  a  route  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Great  Salt  Lake  across  country  .to  the  Columbia.  In  1834, 
Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth  of  Massachusetts  guided  a  party  of  traders 
and  settlers  to  Fort  Hall,  north  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  thence 
to  Oregon.  By  this  time  several  mission  societies,  Protestant 
and  Catholic,  were  sending  out  missionaries  to  the  Oregon 
Indians  along  this  route.  In  the  winter  of  1842-1843  Dr. 
Whitman  came  east  from  Oregon  by  a  dangerous,  roundabout 
route,  partly  on  business  of -his  mission,  partly  because  he  sup- 
posed that  Webster  was  willing  to  give  up  all  claims  to  Oregon. 
There  was  no  such  danger ;  the  country  was  awake  to  the  im- 
portance of  a  Pacific  outlet;  and  there  is  no  contemporary 
evidence  to  show  that  Whitman  influenced  either  Secretary 
Webster  or  the  President.  In  1843  he  joined  an  expedition 
formed  by  other  people  and  with  it  returned  to  Oregon. 

About  the  same  time,  a  young  army  officer,  named  John  C. 
Fremont,  made  three  long  explorations  westward  (1842-1845). 
He  twice  crossed  the  Sierra  Nevada  to  California.  He  was  a 
poor  explorer,  and  made  no  proper  surveys ;  but  he  was  a  son- 


Annexation  of  Texas  341 

in-law  of  Senator  Benton  of  Missouri,  young,  dashing,  and 
good-looking,  and  got  the  name  of  "Pathfinder"  for  his  exploits. 

228.   ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS  (1844-1845) 

The  interior  and  Oregon  were  valuable  for  the  future,  but  Texas 
was  an  immediate,  pressing  question  which  came  to  an  issue  in 
1844.  President  Tyler  appointed  John  C.  Calhoun  Secretary 
of  State  so  that  he  might  negotiate  a  treaty  of  annexation  (April, 
1844),  and  this  brought  the  whole  issue  squarely  before  the  coun- 
try. The  main  arguments  in  favor  of  annexation  were :  (i)  that 
it  was  a  natural  expansion  which  would  simply  bring  back 
Americans  to  their  own  country;  (2)  that  it  was  a  "reannexa- 
tion"  of  territory  which  was  really  a  part  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  (§  190) ;  (3)  that  it  would  be  an  advantage  to  the 
slaveholders  by  giving  them  greater  strength  in  the  Union. 
On  the  other  side  the  antislavery  forces  of  the  North  violently 
opposed  annexation  because  :  (i)  it  would  strengthen  the  slave- 
holding  power  in  the  Union ;  (2)  it  would  probably  bring  on 
war  with  Mexico. 

The  treaty  failed  of  ratification ;  and  the  question  became 
an  issue  in  the  election  of  1844.  Clay,  who  was  known  to  be 
opposed  to  annexation,  was  nominated  by  the  Whigs.  Van 
Buren  was  dropped  by  the  Democratic  convention  and  James 
K.  Polk  of  Tennessee  was  nominated  because  he  was  known  to 
favor  annexation.  The  Democratic  platform  declared  for 
"the  reoccupation  of  Oregon  and  the  reannexation  of  Texas 
at  the  earliest  practicable  period."  Clay  then  felt  com- 
pelled to  change  his  ground  by  saying  that  he  would  be  glad 
to  see  Texas  annexed,  "without  dishonor,  without  war,  with 
the  common  consent  of  the  Union,  and  upon  just  and  fair 
terms." 

The  abolitionists,   under   the  name  of  the  Liberty  party, 

nominated  James  G.  Birney,  and  it  proved  that  they  had  the 

balance  of  power.     With   only  62,000  popular  votes  out  of 

2,700,000,  they  were  able  to  draw  so  many  votes  away  from 

HART'S  NKW  AMER.  HIST.  —  22 


342  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

Clay  in  New  York  as  to  throw  that  close  state  to  Polk,  who 
was  consequently  elected. 

Congress  and  President  Tyler  did  not  wait  for  the  new  ad- 
ministration :  since  annexation  seemed  to  have  the  approval 
of  the  majority  of  the  people,  a  joint  resolution  passed  the 
House  by  a  vote  of  120  to  98,  and  the  Senate  by  27  to  25  (March 
i,  1845),  permitting  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  state  on  very 
favorable  terms.  The  joint  resolution  provided  also  that  Texas 
might  later,  with  her  own  consent,  be  subdivided  into  five 
states,  all  presumably  slave  states ;  except  that  slavery  was  to 
be  prohibited  in  any  new  state  or  states  north  of  the  line  of 

36°  3°'- 

229.   PRESIDENT  POLK'S  POLICY 

•  Few  Presidents  have  been  so  successful  in  carrying  out  what . 
they  undertook  as  James  K.  Polk,  Tyler's  successor.  He  was' 
born  in  1795,  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, was  fourteen  years  a  member  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives (four  years  Speaker),  and  then  for  one  term  governor  of 
Tennessee.  He  had  large  public  experience,  and  an  imperious 
and  far-reaching  mind.  The  defect  of  Folk's  character  was 
his  lack  of  moral  principle  as  to  the  property  of  our  neighbor, 
Mexico.  His  diary  shows  clearly  that  his  real  intentions  and 
purposes  were  very  different  from  those  which  he  put  forward 
in  public.  From  the  first  he  meant  not  only  to  annex  Texas, 
but  to  add  to  the  Union  the  enormous  belt  of  territory  stretch- 
ing from  the  Gulf  to  the  Pacific,  to  gain  the  port  of  San  Fran- 
cisco for  Pacific  trade,  and  to  turn  over  the  greater  part  of  the 
new  territories  to  slavery. 

Therefore,  when  Polk  came  into  office,  he  put  no  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  the  annexation  policy  which  Tyler  had  carried 
through;  and  he  seemed  from  the  first  to  have  adopted  the 
extravagant  Texan  claim  to  all  the  territory  north  and  east  of 
the  Rio  Grande. 

As  for  Oregon,  Polk  turned  his  back  on  the  right  to  "all 
Oregon"  and  "Fifty- Four  Forty  or  Fight"  which  had  been 


President  Folk's  Policy  343 

part  of  his  stock  in  trade  in  the  election  of  1844,  and  he  soon 
showed  a  willingness  to  divide  the  country  with  Great  Britain. 
The  American  government  had  a  series  of  strong  claims  based 
on  the  discovery  by  Gray,  in  1792  (§  160),  the  first  exploration 
of  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1805,  the  first  settlement  by  Astor  in 
1811,  and  the  first  settlement  in  the  Willamette  valley  in  1832. 


OREGON  BOUNDARY  CONTROVERSY. 

The  British  came  in  second  on  all  these  counts ;  but  their  agent, 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  was  actually  holding  a  considera- 
ble number  of  posts  both  north  and  south  of  the  Columbia 
River.  Years  before  this  time  the  United  States  had  offered  to 
accept  the  4Qth  parallel,  extended  westward  from  the  Rocky. 
Mountains,  as  the  boundary,  and  on  that  basis  Polk  made  a 
treaty  (June,  1846).  The  northwestern  boundary  territorial 
controversy  was  thus  settled  after  fifty-four  years  of  dispute. 


344  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

A  strong  Democratic  majority  appeared  in  both  houses  of 
Congress  in  1845-1846.  Robert  J.  Walker,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  drafted  and  presented  to  Congress  a  measure  which 
became  law  as  the  tariff  of  1846.  The  duties,  on  luxuries  were 
very  high,  reaching  100  per  cent  on  brandy  and  spirits;  on 
ordinary  manufactures  they  were  only  about  30  per  cent; 
the  average  on  dutiable  goods  was  about  25  per  cent ;  and,  by 
the  increase  of  imports,  the  annual  proceeds  in  a  few  years  were 
twice  as  great  as  those  under  the  tariff  of  1842. 

230.   CAUSES  or  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO  (1845-1846) 

California,  with  "the  fine  Bay  of  San  Francisco,"  was  much 
on  Folk's  mind,  and  he  hoped  that  the  native  Californians 
would  revolt  just  as  the  Texans  had  done  and  then  annex 
themselves  to  the  United  States.  He  instructed  our  consul  at 
Monterey  to  work  in  that  direction,  and  he  also  sent  John 
Slidell  to  Mexico  to  buy  California  if  possible.  The  Mexicans 
would  not  consider  any  such  proposition,  and  it  became  clear 
that  the  only  way  to  annex  California  was  to  fight  for  it. 

Several  other  reasons  for  war  could  be  more  openly  stated 
than  that  relating  to  California:  (i)  Claims  for  outrages 
against  the  persons  and  property  of  Americans  in  Mexico  had 
been  pending  for  twenty  years  and  those  claims  were  now 
pushed  hard  by  Polk.  (2)  Mexico  was  threatening  war  on  the 
ground  that  the  United  States  in  annexing  Texas  had  robbed 
Mexico  of  a  province.  (3)  The  Mexicans  entirely  rejected  the 
Rio  Grande  boundary.  In  fact  the  Texan  claim  included  part 
of  the  ancient  province  of  New  Mexico,  which  was  no  more 
Texan  than  St.  Louis  (map,  page  346). 

Without  waiting  even  to  hear  from  Slidell,  Polk  ordered 
General  Zachary  Taylor  to  advance  with  his  troops  into  the 
disputed  belt  between  the  Nueces  River  and  the  Rio  Grande. 
This  brought  about  a  collision  (April  24,  1846).  The  Mexicans 
attacked  the  Americans  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Rio 
Grande. 


Causes  of  the  War  with  Mexico  345 

Polk  was  already  trying  to  bring  Congress  to  declare  war, 
and  the  news  of  the  Mexican  attack  was  followed  by  a  special 
message  of  May  n,  1846,  in  which  Polk  boldly  declared  that 
"war  exists  and -notwithstanding  all  our  efforts  to  avoid  it, 
exists  by  the  act  of  Mexico  herself."  On  that  basis  Congress 
was  swept  into  a  declaration  of  war. 

The  wrath  of  the  antislavery  men  over  the  purpose  of  en- 
larging the  slave  power  was  expressed  by  James  Russell  Lowell 
in  the  fiercest  satire  of  his  Biglow  Papers  : 

"  They  may  talk  o'  Freedom's  airy 

Till  they're  pupple  in  the  face, 
It's  a  grand  gret  cemetary 

Fer  the  barthrights  of  our  race, 
They  jest  want  this  Californy 

So's  to  lug  new  slave  states  in 
To  abuse  ye,  an'  to  scorn  ye, 

An'  to  plunder  ye  like  sin.  " 

The  war  had  hardly  begun  before  President  Polk  asked 
Congress  for  $2,000,000  to  be  used  for  "negotiations"  (August 
4,  1846) ;  the  real  purpose  seems  to  have  been  to  buy  General 
Santa  Anna,  former  dictator  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  then  in 
exile.  The  northern  antislavery  men  seized  the  opportunity  to 
make  clear  their  determination  not  to  annex  any  more  slave 
territory.  David  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania  introduced  an 
amendment  to  the  proposed  appropriation,  which  has  always 
been  called  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso  " ;  it  was  prepared  by  a  group 
of  northwestern  Democrats.  It  declared  that,  "As  an  express 
and  fundamental  condition  to  the  acquisition  of  any  terri- 
tory .  .  .  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever 
exist  in  any  part  of  the  said  territory."  The  whole  proposi- 
tion failed  through  a  technicality ;  but  the  South  was  aroused. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  in  1847-1849,  voted  in  Congress  forty- 
two  times  for  the  principle  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso ;  but  he 
voted  in  vain,  for  the  Senate  always  showed  an  adverse  ma- 
jority. 


346 


Advance  to  the  Pacific 


231.   MEXICAN  WAR  (1846-1848) 

However  unrighteous  the  causes  of  the  Mexican  War,  it 
was  carried  on  successfully  by  land  and  sea.  General  Taylor 
beat  the  Mexicans  in  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 


8C.LEOFM.LE3 


fEXJCO 


100      200      300       400      500 

1  Col.Kearny's  route 

2  Gen.  Taylor's      " 

3  Gen.  Scott's         « 


FIELD  OF  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.     (The  territory  in  dispute  between 
Texas  and  Mexico  is  shown  by  the  lighter  shading.) 

Palma  (May).  Then  he  crossed  the  river  and  again  de- 
feated the  Mexicans  at  Monterey  (September).  Santa  Anna 
was  passed  through  the  lines  into  Mexico,  under  Folk's  order, 


Mexican  War  347 

but  took  the  patriot  side  and  organized  a  new  army,  with  which 
he  vainly  attacked  Taylor  at  Buena  Vista  (February,  1847). 

General  Winfield  Scott,  in  chief  command,  landed  with  a  new 
army  at  Vera  Cruz  (March,  1847),  and  fought  his  way  steadily 
across  the  mountains  and  down  into  the  valley  of  Mexico. 
He  attacked  the  city  of  Mexico  with  about  6000  available  troops 
and  finally  captured  it  (September).  The  Mexican  government 
was  thus  broken  up  and  could  put  no  more  armies  into  the  field. 

Three  areas  of  territory  were  added  to  the  United  States  as  a 
.result  of  the  war.  The  first  was  the  belt  between  the  Nueces 
and  the  Rio  Grande,  out  of  which  the  Mexicans  had  been  driven 
by  Taylor's  army.  The  second  was  New  Mexico,  which  ex- 
tended across  the  upper  Rio  Grande.  The  capital,  Santa  Fe, 
was  taken  by  General  Kearny  without  firing  a  shot  (August, 
1846).  He  set  up  a  civil  government  and,  with  part  of  his 
command,  marched  on  to  California.  This  third  area  he  found 
already  conquered.  In  June,  1846,  without  knowing  of  the 
outbreak  of  war,  the  American  settlers  in  California,  number- 
ing only  300,  founded  what  they  called  the  Bear  Flag  Republic, 
which  was  aided  by  Fremont  with  a  little  force  of  government 
troops,  and  then  by  a  naval  force  under  Commodore  Sloat. 

It  was  one  thing  to  occupy  these  regions  and  quite  another 
to  find  any  responsible  men  in  Mexico  who  would  make  a  treaty 
ceding  the  conquered  country.  Polk  sent  out  N.  P.  Trist,  a 
quarrelsome  and  insubordinate  man,  to  make  a  peace  with 
Mexico.  When  he  could  not  succeed,  great  pressure  was  put 
upon  the  President  to  annex  the  whole  of  Mexico.  Polk's 
diary  says  on  this  point,  "I  replied  that  I  was  not  prepared  to 
go  to  that  extent  .  .  .  that  I  had  in  my  last  message  declared 
that  I  did  not  contemplate  the  conquest  of  Mexico."  The 
Mexicans  were  startled  and  finally  made  a  treaty  with  Trist 
under  which  $15,000,000  in  cash  was  to  be  paid  by  the  United 
States  to  Mexico;  that  is,  practically,  to  the  leaders  who 
would  sign  the  treaty.  Mexico  gave  up  all  claim  to  Texas  as 
far  as  the  Rio  Grande,  and  ceded  the  whole  of  New  Mexico  and 


348  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

California.  This  treaty  was  accepted  by  Polk  and  approved 
by  the  Senate.  Thus  the  Mexican  War  resulted  in  a  great  in- 
crease of  territory.  The  war  cost  about  $100,000,000  and  the 
lives  of  13,000  of  the  100,000  soldiers  engaged.  In  1853  by  the 
Gadsden  purchase  (map,  page  viii)  the  United  States  bought 
what  is  now  southern  Arizona  from  Mexico,  paying  $10,000,000. 

232.   COMMERCIAL  EFFECT  OF  THE  PACIFIC  ANNEXATIONS 

After  the  formal  adjustment  of  the  Oregon  boundary  in  1846 
(§  229),  settlers  made  their  way  to  Oregon  both  by  land  and 


SANTA  BARBARA  MISSION,  CALIFORNIA,  FOUNDED  IN  1786. 

by  the  sea  route  around  Cape  Horn,  but  at  that  time  the  settled 
part  of  Oregon  was  almost  entirely  in  the  Willamette  valley. 
Very  little  use  was  made  of  the  magnificent  timber  which  ex- 
tended down  to  tidewater,  until  California  began  to  use  it. 

Probably  California  would  have  developed  as  slowly  as 
Oregon  but  for  the  influence  of  the  discovery  of  a  few  grains  of 
yellow  metal.  On  January  24,  1848,  just  before  the  treaty  of 
peace  with  Mexico  was  signed,  James  W.  Marshall,  an  immigrant 


Isthmian  Canal  Questions  349 

from  New  Jersey,  picked  up  some  flakes  of  gold  in  the  race  of  a 
new  sawmill  about  sixty  miles  from  Sutler's  Fort,  now  called 
Sacramento. .  The  news  spread  like  the  cry  of  fire ;  within  six 
months  the  coast  settlements  of  California  were  almost  deserted  ; 
the  inhabitants  hurried  to  the  gold  diggings,  which  were 
"placers"  (gravel  reaches  or  terraces)  yielding  gold  in  dust, 
coarser  particles,  and  nuggets.  Soon  all  sorts  of  merchandise 
rose  in  price  three  times  over ;  and  some  miners  by  their  own 
labor  were  taking  from  $3000  to  $5000  a  month  at  the  diggings. 
The  next  year  thousands  of  "Forty-niners"  made  their  way 
to  California,  some  around  Cape  Horn,  some  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  or  Nicaragua,  some  in  wagon  trains  straight  west 
across  the  plains.  Between  fifty  thousand  and  one  hundred 
thousand  people  poured  into  California,  and  in  two  seasons 
more  than  $30,000,000  of  gold  was  taken  out.  If  somebody 
"struck  it  rich,"  "in  half  an  hour  a  motley  multitude,  covered 
with  crowbars,  pickaxes,  spades,  rifles,  and  wash  bowls,  went 
streaming  over  the  hills  in  the  direction  of  the  new  deposits." 
The  old  Spanish  mining  laws  were  inadequate,  and  the  criminal 
laws  did  not  apply  to  the  circumstances ;  and  there  was  no 
government  to  pass  new  statutes.  The  miners  therefore  or- 
ganized, made  their  own  mining  rules,  and  set  up  so-called 
"vigilance  committees"  for  offhand  punishment  of  crimes. 

233.   ISTHMIAN  CANAL  QUESTIONS  (1846-1850) 

The  annexation  of  California  at  once  brought  up  the  ques- 
tion of  the  control  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  During  and  after 
the  war,  travelers  and  officers  used  the  short  cut  across  the 
narrow  lands  of  Central  America  (map,  page  533) ;  and  the  idea 
of  an  isthmian  canal  was  revived.  The  Isthmus  of  Panama 
was  part  of  the  territory  of  the  republic  of  New  Granada  (now 
the  United  States  of  Colombia),  which  proposed  (1846)  that  the 
United  States  guarantee  that  isthmus  against  seizure  or  inter- 
ference, while  New  Granada  would  grant  to  citizens  of  the 
United  States  the  use  of  any  canal  or  roadway  that  might  be 


35°  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

constructed  across  the  isthmus,  on  the  same  terms  as  those 
applying  to  citizens  of  New  Granada.  A  treaty  to  that  effect 
was  duly  drawn  in  1846  and  ratified  in  1848. 

Another  practicable  canal  route  crossed  Central  America 
through  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua;  to  control  that  line,  Great 
Britain  claimed  a  protectorate  over  the  Mosquito  Indians, 
who  were  settled  near  the  eastern  end  of  the  route.  The 
United  States  roundly  protested,  but  came  to  an  understanding 
with  Great  Britain  in  1850  by  the  so-called  Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty.  By  this  agreement  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  were  to  take  joint  control  of  any  isthmian  canal  that 
might  be  constructed  on  the  Nicaragua  route,  or  any  other, 
and  the  British  agreed  not  to  make  any  settlements  in  Central 
America.  This  was  a  fair  compromise  under  the  conditions  of 
the  time,  and  favorable  to  both  parties. 

234.  TERRITORIAL  SLAVERY  (1848-1850) 

When  the  war  with  Mexico  was  over  and  the  desired  terri- 
tory was  transferred  to  the  United  States,  the  country  found 
itself  in  the  midst  of  the  most  furious  controversy  about  slavery 
that  had  ever  arisen.  The  question  was  whether  slavery  should 
or  should  not  enter  into  New  Mexico  and  California.  The 
extreme  antislavery  men  supported  the  principle  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  which  meant  that  slavery  in  those  territories  should  be 
prohibited  by  an  act  of  Congress.  The  extreme  proslavery 
men  demanded  that  the  36°  30'  compromise  line,  which  was  to 
be  extended  across  Texas  (§  228),  should  be  continued  to  the 
Pacific,  thus  dividing  California.  A  third  proposition  was  that 
Congress  should  avoid  settling  the  question.  This  was  a  sug- 
gestion by  Senator  Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan  that  the  question 
of  slavery  be  left  to  the  people  of  the  territory,  under  what 
came  to  be  called  "popular  sovereignty." 

The  contest  was  carried  into  the  presidential  election  of  1848, 
but  the  issue  was  not  clear-cut.  The  Whigs  nominated  General 
Zachary  Taylor,  who  had  never  been  in  politics.  The  Demo- 


Other  Slavery  Questions  351 

crats  nominated  Cass,  who  was  a  "dough  face,"  or  northern 
proslavery  man.  Van  Buren,  who  still  remembered  how  he  was 
set  aside  in  1844,  led  his  friends  to  join  the  Free-soil  party, 
which  included  the  former  Liberty  party  (§  228) ;  the  joint 
convention  nominated  Van  Buren  on  the  platform  of  "Free 
Soil,  Free  Speech,  Free  Labor,  and  Free  Men."  This  combina- 
tion polled  nearly  300,000  votes  and  threw  New  York  from  the 
Democratic  to  the  Whig  side  as  it  had  been  thrown  to  the 
Democrats  in  1844,  thus  allowing  Zachary  Taylor,  a  slaveholder, 
to  be  elected  by  163  electoral  votes  to  127  for  Cass. 

When  Taylor  became  President,  March  4,  1849,  ne  decided 
to  settle  the  question  of  California  by  bringing  in  that  new 
community  as  a  state.  Accordingly  a  California  convention 
was  held.  It  drew  up  a  constitution  (September,  1849)  which 
would  put  a  stop  to  slavery  in  the  future  state,  and  also  would 
prevent  the  extension  of  the  compromise  line,  by  declaring 
that  California  included  the  whole  belt  of  coast  from  Mexico 
to  Oregon.  The  ruling  influence  was  that  of  free  miners  work- 
ing with  their  own  hands,  who  did  not  mean  to  work  in  com- 
petition with  the  labor  of  slaves  owned  by  other  people. 

235.  OTHER  SLAVERY  QUESTIONS 

Other  questions  were  arising  in  Congress  which  clamored  for 
settlement  alongside  the  territorial  issues.  Northern  men 
strongly  objected  to  the  slave  trade  in  the  city  of  Washington, 
and  Abraham  Lincoln  introduced  a  bill  (January,  1849)  f°r 
the  gradual  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Another  question  was  that  of  fugitive  slaves.  The 
abolitionists  had  a  regular  system  for  aiding  fugitives  to  escape, 
popularly  known  as  the  "Underground  Railroad,"  in  which 
more  than  3000  people  are  known  to  have  taken  part ;  and 
through  which,  from  1830  to  1860,  upward  of  60,000  slaves 
escaped.  Fugitives  were  kept  in  the  houses  of  abolitionists, 
forwarded  from  place  to  place  at  night,  or  hidden  in  out-of-the- 
way  places;  and  if  the  pursuers  came,  were  finally  shipped 


352  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

across  the  Lakes  to  Canada,  which  was  free  soil.  The  old 
Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1793  (§  182)  did  not  work  well,  and  the 
South  demanded  an  act  from  Congress  more  favorable  to  them. 
The  proposition  to  admit  California  as  a  free  state  raised  the 
old  question  of  keeping  up  an  equal  balance  in  the  Senate. 
Up  to  this  time  the  principle  of  balancing  states  (§  183)  was 
maintained.  Arkansas  (slave)  —  the  25th  state  —  was  admitted 
in  1836  and  Michigan  (free)  in  1837,  Florida  and  Texas  (slave) 
in  1845  and  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  (free)  in  1846  and  1848.  Of 
the  thirty  states  in  1849,  fifteen  were  slave  and  fifteen  free.  To 
admit  California  as  a  free  state  meant  a  permanent  superiority 
of  the  North  in  the  Senate,  for  there  was  nowhere  a  southern 
territory  ready  to  enter  the  Union. 

236.   COMPROMISE  OF  1850 

When  Congress  met  again,  in  December,  1849,  it  looked  as 
if  the  Union  might  break  up  over  these  complicated  questions. 
Accordingly  the  aged  Henry  Clay,  "the  great  pacificator,"  pro- 
posed, and  with  all  his  energies  urged  a  compromise  measure, 
by  which  California  should  be  free  while  slavery  was  not  to  be 
forbidden  in  New  Mexico.  His  point  of  view  was  that  New 
Mexico  and  California  came  into  the  Union  free  by  Mexican 
law  and  would  remain  free  if  Congress  took  no  positive  action. 
He  declared,  "No  earthly  power  could  induce  me  to  vote  for 
a  specific  measure  for  the  introduction  of  slavery  where  it  had 
not  before  existed." 

Another  line  of  argument  was  set  forth  by  Daniel  Webster, 
whose  support  of  the  compromise  as  leader  of  the  "cotton 
Whigs"  —  that  is,  the  commercial  men  of  the  North  —  made  it 
possible  to  pass  the  compromise.  In  his  famous  "Seventh  of 
March  Speech,"  he  accused  the  North  of  not  doing  its  duty 
by  the  South.  He  was  willing  to  say  nothing  about  slavery 
in  New  Mexico  because  he  was  sure  that  it  could  never  flourish 
there.  As  he  put  it,  "I  would  not  take  pains  to  reaffirm  an 
ordinance  of  nature  nor  to  reenact  the  will  of  God." 


Compromise  of  1850  353 

Northern  senators  like  Salmon  P.  Chase  of  Ohio  scouted  the 
idea  that  the  Union  was  in  danger,  and  denounced  any  com- 
promise. They  looked  on  Webster  as  a  man  who  had  always 
opposed  slavery  but  was  now  betraying  his  own" section,  in  hope 
of  getting  southern  sup- 
port for  the  presidency. 

There  was  real  danger 
to  the  Union.  Robert 
Toombs  of  Georgia  de- 
clared in  open  Congress, 
"I  do  not  hesitate  to 
avow  ...  in  the  presence 
of  the  living  God,  that 
if  ...  you  seek  to  drive 
us  from  .  .  .  California 
...  I  am  for  disunion." 
In  milder  terms  John  C. 
Calhoun,  in  the  last  speech 
of  his  life,  argued  against 
a  compromise,  because  the 
only  thing .  that  could 
pacify  the  South  was  for 
the  North  to  stop  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question.  He 
said,  "If  you,  who  represent  the  stronger  portion,  cannot  agree 
to  settle  ...  on  the  broad  principle  of  justice  and  duty,  say 
so;  and  let  the  states  we  both  represent  agree  to  separate." 

In  the  midst  of  these  discordant  arguments,  President  Tay- 
lor's views  were  especially  important  because  of  his  veto  power. 
He  was  opposed  to  the  compromise,  but  he  died  suddenly 
(July,  1850).  Vice  President  Fillmore  of  New  York  then  be- 
came President  and  signed  the  five  bills  into  which  Clay's 
compromise  had  been  divided  : 

(i)  New  Mexico  was  organized  as  a  territory,  including  land 
claimed  by  Texas  east  of  the  upper  Rio  Grande ;  $10,000,000 
was  given  to  Texas  for  accepting  those  boundaries.  The  real 


HENRY  CLAY,  ABOUT  1848.      (From    a 
daguerreotype.) 


354 


Review  355 

issue  of  territorial  slavery  was,  so  far  as  possible,  avoided  by 
stating:  (a)  that  "the  Constitution  and  all  laws  which  are 
not  locally  inapplicable"  should  apply  to  New  Mexico ;  (b)  that 
no  citizen  of  the  United  States  should  be  deprived  of  his  "life, 
liberty,  or  property  except  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers  and  the 
law  of  the  land"  ;  (c)  that  "when  admitted  as  a  State,  the  said 
Territory,  or  any  portion  of  the  same,  shall  be  received  into  the 
Union,  with  or  without  slavery,  as  their  constitution  may  pre- 
scribe at  the  time  of  their  admission."  This  was  a  tacit  per- 
mission to  hold  slaves  while  it  remained  a  territory. 

(2)  The  next  bill  admitted  California  as  a  free  state. 

(3)  The  Utah  Bill,  with  provisions  like  those  of  the  New 
Mexico  Bill,  organized  a  territory  north  of  New  Mexico,  ap- 
parently intended  to  be  free. 

(4)  A  new  fugitive  slave  act  provided  for  a  system  of  United 
States  commissioners  to  try  cases  in  a  "summary  manner." 

(5)  Another  act  prohibited  the  slave  trade  (but  not  slavery) 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

237.   REVIEW 

Every  election  from  1840  to  1852  brought  a  change  of  parties 
in  the  national  government.  Harrison  became  President  in  1841 
and  was  at  once  succeeded  by  Tyler,  the  Vice  President,  who 
quarreled  with  the  Whigs  on  the  bank  and  the  tariff.  This 
was  also  a  period  of  local  disorders,  including  the  Antirent  riots 
and  the  Dorr  Rebellion.  Webster  settled  the  long  pending  dis- 
pute with  Great  Britain  over  the  Maine  boundary  (1842).  The 
fur  traders  and  others  opened  up  the  far  West  and  marked  out 
routes  to  Santa  Fe,  to  Oregon,  and  to  California. 

The  Democratic  party  returned  to  power  in  the  election  of 
1844,  when  Polk  beat  Henry  Clay.  After  long  opposition  by 
the  antislavery  people,  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States 
in  1845.  Polk  then  set  out  to  perfect  the  title  to  Oregon  and 
accepted  the  49th  parallel  as  a  compromise  boundary.  A  low 
tariff  was  passed  in  1846. 


356  Advance  to  the  Pacific 

The  next  step  was  to  acquire  California.  When  Mexico  de- 
clined to  consider  selling  it,  Polk  occupied  the  disputed  region 
on  the  Rio  Grande.  The  resulting  Mexican  War  lasted  to  1848, 
when  Mexico  was  obliged  to  yield  the  disputed  territory  north- 
east of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  also  New  Mexico  and  California. 
The  antislavery  people  in  vain  tried  to  secure  the  Wilmot  Pro- 
viso, which  sought  to  prevent  slavery  in  the  new  annexations. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  brought  a  rush  of  "  Forty- 
niners"  to  California.  The  United  States  guaranteed  to  New 
Granada  possession  of  the  Panama  Isthmus  route  (1848).  By 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  of  1850,  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
"States  took  joint  responsibility  for  any  future  isthmian  canal. 

The  new  annexations  caused  a  controversy  in  Congress.  An 
attempt  to  extend  the  36°  30'  line  to  the  Pacific  failed,  and  in  the 
election  of  1848  Zachary  Taylor  was  chosen  President  by  the 
Whigs.  Meanwhile  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves  came  up.  All  these  questions 
were  settled  by  the  Compromise  of  1850:  (i)  The  boundaries 
claimed  by  Texas  were  cut  down.  (2)  California  was  admitted 
as  a  free  state.  (3)  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  organized  as 
territories,  with  the  privilege  of  becoming  slave  states  if  they  so 
desired.  (4)  The  slave  trade  was  prohibited  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  (5)  A  new  fugitive  slave  act  was  passed.  This 
settlement  was  called  "a  finality." 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  viii,  339,  343,  346,  354,  372. 
—  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  287.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  148, 
159.  —  Fish,  Am.  Diplomacy,  229,  231,  232,  268,  272,  294;  Am.  Nation- 
ality, 486.  —  Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  198,  201,  206,  210. 

Secondary.  Coman,  Econ.  Beginnings  of  the  Far  West,  II.  75-93, 
113-284.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  chs.  vii-ix;  Jefferson  Davis, 
chs.  iv-vii.  —  Fish,  Am.  Diplomacy,  228-279,  290-296;  Am.  National- 
ity, 249-262,  276-280,  302-325,  333.  —  Garrison,  Texas,  ch.  xxi;  West- 
ward Extension.  —  Hapgood,  Daniel  Webster,  96-1 1 1 .  —  Hart,  S.  P.  Chase, 
54-130. — Johnson,  5.  A.  Douglas,  chs.  v-ix.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  V. 
463-483,  VI.  429-454,  513-518,  550-637,  VII.  1-73,  271-614,  VIII.  1-45. 


References  and  Topics  357 

—  Paxson,  Last  Am.  Frontier,  chs.  i-vii.  —  Rhodes,    U.S.,  I.  75-202. 

—  Roosevelt,  T.  H.  Benton,  210-301.  —  Schafer,  Pacific  Northwest,  chs. 
viii-xv.  —  Schurz,  Henry  Clay,  II.  chs.  xxiii-xxvi.  —  Turner,  New  West, 
ch.  viii.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  IV.  88-128. 

Sources.  Ames,  State  Docs,  on  Fed.  Relations,  190-192,  229-232, 
241-272.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  327-337,  503.  —  Caldwell, 
Terr.  Development,  131-199.  —  Dana,  Two  Years  before  the  Mast.  — 
Grant,  Personal  Memoirs,  I.  61-174.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III. 
§§  187-189,  IV.  §§  7-22  ;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  IV.  22-25,  79~8l>  27°- 
285,  334-382  passim,  V.  13-61,  70-130.  —  James,  Readings,  §§  67,  78-80. 

Illustrative.  Atherton,  Splendid  Idle  Forties  (Cal.).  —  Canfield,  Diary 
of  a  Forty-niner.  —  Hall,  Downrenler's  Son  (antirent).  —  Harte,  Luck  of 
Roaring  Camp;  Tales  of  the  Argonauts. — Lowell,  Biglow  Papers  (ist. 
ser.) ;  Present  Crisis.  —  Matthews,  Poems  of  Am.  Patriotism,  108-115. 

—  Munroe,  Golden   Days  of  '49.  —  Potter,    Eleventh   Hour.  —  Watts, 
Nathan    Burke    (Mex.    War).  —  White,  Gold.  —  Whittier,   Antislavery 
Poems,  94-155.  —  Wilson,  Lions  of  the  Lord  (Mormons). 

Pictures.     Sparks,  Expansion.  —  Wilson,  A  m.  People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 
(i)  Incidents  of  the  campaign  of  1840.  [§  225]  —  (2)  Experiences  in 
the  West  of  one:  Captain  Bonneville;  N.  J.  Wyeth ;  Dr.  Whitman; 
John  C.  Fremont.  [§  227]  —  (3)  T.  H.  Benton,  or  James  K.  Polk  as  a 
boy  and  young  man.  [§§  227,  228]  —  (4)  Spanish  missions  in  California. 
[§  230]  —  (5)  Abraham  Lincoln's  career  in  Congress.  [§  230]  —  (6)  Ac- 
count of  one :  big  timber ;  Bear  Flag  Republic ;  placer  gold  diggings ; 
Forty-niners  ;  vigilance  committees.  [§  232]  —  (7)  Account  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso.  [§  234]  —  (8)  Public  career  of  Lewis  Cass,  or  James  K.  Polk, 
or  James  Buchanan.  [§§  229,  234]  —  (9)  Incidents  of  the  "Underground 
Railroad  ";  or  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  [§  235]  —  (10)  Ad- 
mission of  one  of  the  following  states  :  Arkansas ;  Michigan  ;  Florida ; 
Texas;  Iowa;  Wisconsin;  California.  [§  235]  —  (n)  Public  career  of 
one  of  the  following :  Clay;  Webster;  Chase;  Toombs;  Fillmore.  [§  236] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(12)  Account  of  the  "  Aroostook  War."  [§  226]  —  (13)  Early  days 
on  the  Sante  Fe  trail.  [§  227]  —  (14)  Was  the  annexation  of  Texas 
desirable?  [§  228]  —  (15)  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  [§  229]  —  (16)  Did  the  Mexican  War  begin  "  by  the  act  of 
Mexico  "?  [§  230]  —  (17)  Career  of  Santa  Anna.  [§  231]  —  (18)  Was 
the  treaty  of  peace  with  Mexico  just?  [§  231]  —  (19)  Webster's  "  Seventh 
df  March"  speech.  [§  236] 


CHAPTER  XXII 


ECONOMIC   PROGRESS    (1830-1860) 
238.   RESOURCES  or  THE  COUNTRY 

IN  the  three  decades  from  1830  to  1860  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation, the  accumulation  of  property,  and  the  development  of 
resources  were  as  great  as  during  the  previous  two  centuries  of 
settlement  in  North  America.  The  same  spirit  of  intense  life 

and  activity  was 
C\  shown    in    busi- 

ness affairs,  as  in 
the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual growth 
described  in  an 
earlier  chapter 
(§§  204-209). 
The  American 
mind  naturally 
turned  to  new 
ideas  of  business 
i  organization  and  of  mechanical  inventions.  Free  land  and 
good  employment  drew  millions  of  people  from  the  Old  World 
and  stimulated  the  use  of  labor-saving  machinery.  The  desire 
for  land  and  for  opportunities  to  make  money  was  a  strong, 
if  not  the  strongest,  element  in  the  annexations  of  territory 
that  were  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  thing  that  did  most  for  the  growth  of  the  country  was 
the  immense  extent  of  the  resources  of  nature ;  that  is,  the  land 


McCoRMicK's  FIRST  REAPER,  1834. 


The  Land  Question  359 

and  its  capacity  to  bear  crops,  the  mineral  wealth  that  lay  be- 
neath it,  the  timber  that  grew  upon  it,  the  wild  animals  that 
lived  upon  it,  the  motive  power  furnished  by  waterfalls  and  by 
wood  and  coal  as  fuel,  and  the  waterways  of  lakes,  rivers,  and 
ocean,  which  made  it  easy  to  exchange  these  products.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  were  in  the  position  of  an  heir  who 
comes  into  a  great  fortune  which  he  suddenly  finds  himself 
called  upon  to  manage  and  make  productive.  He  is  amazed 
at  the  wealth  and  the  opportunities  which  are  thus  put  at  his 
disposal. 

239.  THE  LAND  QUESTION 

The  first  and  most  pressing  question  was  that  of  land.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  were  still  in  the  situation  of  the 
colonists.  In  both  the  older  and  the  newer  states  and  terri- 
tories there  was  an  abundance  of  land  which  had  never  been 
tilled ;  and  in  the  older  sections  large  areas  were  worn  out 
and  had  gone  back  into  brush  or  forest.  The  great  problem 
was  how  to  make  this  immense  quantity  of  land  available  for 
the  farmers. 

The  point  of  view  inherited  from  colonial  times  was  that  land 
was  valuable  only  for  farms,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  given  or 
sold  in  moderate  tracts  to  those  who  could  till  it.  Not  a  single 
one  of  the  states  made  any  attempt  to  keep  even  a  part  of  the 
lands  that  it  possessed.  Great  areas  that  fell  to  Massachu- 
setts, New  York,  Connecticut  in  the  Western  Reserve,  and 
Virginia  all  slipped  away  and  left  very  little  money  to  the 
state  governments.  The  bounty  lands  granted  by  Congress 
to  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  War  of  1812 
were  in  many  cases  sold  for  a  song  to  speculators.  The  lands 
granted  by  the  federal  government  to  the  new  states  for  educa- 
tion, first  a  thirty-sixth  and  then  an  eighteenth  of  the  whole 
area  of  the  new  states,  were  sold  out  with  very  little  advantage 
to  the  states  or  the  school  children.  The  enormous  area  of 
lands  owned  by  the  federal  government  in  the  Northwest,  in 
HAKT'S  NEW  AMKR.  HIST.  —  23 


360  Economic  Progress 

Mississippi  and  Alabama,  and  in  the  new  Southwest,  was  turned 
over  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  settlers  and  speculators. 

The  method  of  sale  from  1800  to  1820  was  clumsy.  Settlers 
were  allowed  to  buy  land  on  installments  at  $2  an  acre  (§  176) ; 
but  many  of  them  failed  to  make  the  payments,  and  in  the  end 
asked  to  have  a  portion  of  the  land  transferred  to  them  fully 
paid.  For  twenty  years  after  1820  Congress  sold  land  only 
for  cash  at  a  standard  price  of  $1.25  an  acre.  Buyers  who  had 
the  money  could  take  anywhere  from  forty  up  to  thousands 
of  acres  at  a  time. 

The  result  was  wild  speculation  in  public  lands ;  in  the  two 
years  1835  and  1836  the  United  States  received  $40,000,000 
from  this  source  alone.  To  prevent  the  accumulation  in  the 
treasury  of  a  surplus  from  the  lands,  various  plans  were  sug- 
gested: (i)  to  give  the  lands  to  the  states;  (2)  to  reserve  the 
lands  in  small  tracts  for  actual  settlers ;  (3)  to  distribute  among 
the  states  the  surplus  from  the  sales  of  land.  Clay  favored  the 
third  plan,  but  Jackson  in  1833  prevented  it  by  the  veto  of  a 
distribution  bill.  The  most  serious  cause  of  the  panic  of  1837 
was  speculation  in  public  lands  (§  222) ;  heavy  buyers  tried  to 
"corner"  the  lands  and  to  sell  them  at  a  great  advance  to 
settlers. 

To  meet  this  difficulty,  in  1841  the  "Preemption  Act"  was 
passed,  and  from  that  time  for  about  twenty  years  it  provided 
a  regular  method  of  getting  public  land.  Any  person  who  was 
the  head  of  a  family  might  buy  a  tract  not  exceeding  160  acres. 
He  had  to  live  on  it  for  a  time,  and  then  he  could  pay  $1.25 
an  acre  and  it  became  his  property,  with  the  right  to  sell.  Under 
the  law,  this  privilege  could  be  exercised  only  once  in  a  life- 
time; but  there  were  people  who  preempted  twenty  different 
tracts  in  different  land  offices,  and  it  was  hard  to  detect  the 
fraud.  So  much  state  and  national  land  was  dumped  on  the 
market  that  many  of  the  heavy  speculators  lost  money  on  their 
ventures.  Land  was  not  a  very  good  investment  and  there 
were  hardly  any  examples  of  men  buying  large  tracts  and  di- 


Indians  and  Indian  Lands  361 

viding  them  into  tenant  farms,  though  that  was  the  ordinary 
system  in  many  parts  of  Europe. 

240.   INDIANS  AND  INDIAN  LANDS 

A  standing  difficulty  in  settling  the  lands  was  the  presence 
of  Indian  tribes  who  occupied  some  of  the  richest  sections.  In 
the  Northwest  after  the  War  of  1812,  the  Indians  were  no  longer 
able  to  make  headway  against  the  whites.  The  so-called  Black 
Hawk  War  (1832),  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  militia 
captain,  was  only  a  flurry.  When  the  Indians  were  pushed  back 
into  reservations  which  were  set  apart  for  their  sole  use,  it  was 
possible  to  open  their  former  lands  to  settlers. 

In  the  South  the  problem  was  different.  Within  the  bound- 
aries of  Georgia  alone  as  late  as  1824  there  were  about  50,000 
Creeks,  Cherokees,  and  Indians  of  other  tribes  who  occupied 
reservations  of  eleven  million  acres.  These  areas  and  their 
Indian  inhabitants  were  solely  under  the  control  of  the  federal 
government  and  not  subject  to  the  law  of  Georgia.  When  a 
few  Creek  chiefs  undertook  to  make  a  treaty  ceding  tribal 
lands,  their  fellow  Indians  did  their  best  to  nullify  it  by  killing 
those  who  signed  it.  The  Cherokees  were  a  well-to-do  people 
owning  farms  and  slaves,  and  they  tried  to  set  up  a  permanent 
government  inside  the  boundaries  of  Georgia.  This  led  to  a 
controversy  between  that  state  and  the  federal  government ; 
for  Georgia,  ignoring  the  rights  both  of  the  Indians  and  of  the 
United  States,  simply  annexed  the  Cherokee  territory  and  de- 
clared the  Indians  to  be  under  the  state  laws. 

President  Adams  vainly  tried  to  defend  the  Indians.  Jack- 
son, when  he  became  President,  ruled  that  Georgia  was  in  the 
right.  When  the  Supreme  Court  decided  a  test  case  in  favor  of 
the  Indians,  Jackson  said,  "John  Marshall  has  made  his  de- 
cision; now  let  him  enforce  it."  The  Cherokees  yielded  to 
their  fate,  and  with  the  Creeks,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and 
Seminoles,  were  moved  west  of  the  Mississippi  into  what  for 
three  quarters  of  a  century  was  called  the  Indian  Territory, 


362 


Economic  Progress 


where  they  were  known  as  "the  Five  Civilized  Tribes."  Some 
of  the  Seminoles  ran  away  and  came  back  to  their  old  home  in 
Florida ;  there  for  a  period  of  ten  years  they  made  good  their 
armed  resistance  against  the  federal  government.  Neverthe- 
less, the  question  was  settled  that  no  Indian  tribes  would  be 
allowed,  either  north  or  south,  to  remain  in  permanent  pos- 
session of  large  tracts  of  valuable  lands  desired  by  settlers. 
A  thousand  whites  could  be  prosperous  where  fifty  Indians 
could  hardly  find  a  living ;  and  the  tribes  faded  away  or  were 
removed. 

241.   IMMIGRATION  IN  1830-1860 

One  reason  for  the  pressure  on  the  public  lands  was  the 
coming  in  of  great  numbers  of  European  immigrants.     In  fact, 


Number  of  Immigrants 

i  i  i  §  i  §  i  i  i  i  i  i  "i 
i  i  i  I  i  i  i  §  i  1  1  1  i 

/ 

1 

a 

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A 

I 

yi 

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A 

ft 

/\ 

\r 

1 

1 

/ 

Q 

V 

A 

i 

J 

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V 

V 

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b 

/ 

V 

^*— 

S-sV 

"V 

a       i       I 

IMMIGRANTS  ARRIVING  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  EACH  YEAR. 

one  of  the  main  reasons  why  the  western  states  wished  to  have 
easy  land  laws  was  to  draw  settlers,  both  from  abroad  and 
from  the  eastern  states.  There  was  also  a  steady  demand  for 
laborers  to  build  roads  and  canals  and  to  work  in  shops  and 


Immigration  in  1830-1860  363 

factories.  Lif?  was  hard  for  the  workers  in  all  European  coun- 
tries ;  but  any  able-bodied  man  or  woman  who  could  reach 
the  United  States  might  expect  to  find  employment ;  or  if  he 
had  a  little  money,  he  could  buy  land  and  become  a  farmer. 

The  result  was  a  steady  stream  of  immigrants,  who  came  in 
the  sailing  vessels  of  the  time.  Between  1820  and  1829  about 
110,000  arrived ;  in  the  next  decade,  over  500,000  people,  many 
of  whom  went  straight  out  to  make  homes  on  the  frontier. 
From  1820  to  1840  the  population  of  the  West  increased  from 
2,600,000  to  7,000,000.  Chicago  in  1833  had  150  wooden 
houses,  and  a  visitor  said  of  it,  "Almost 
every  person  I  met  regarded  Chicago  as 
the  germ  of  an  immense  city." 

From  1820  to  1840  most  of  the  immi- 
grants were  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish, 
all  using  the  English  language.  They 
furnished  much  of  the  unskilled  labor  in 
the  North,  but  many  of  them  had  good 
trades,  and  others  found  ready  employ- 
ment in  the  new  textile  mills  and  iron 
works.  We  have  little  information  about 
the  numbers  coming  from  the  various 
countries.  There  are  records  of  a  small 
immigration  from  the  three  Scandinavian 

countries  —  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark.  A  considerable 
German  immigration  set  in,  which  grew  rapidly  when  civil 
wars  broke  out  in  Germany  (1848).  The  Germans  included 
many  highly  educated  men  who  could  not  endure  the  political 
conditions  at  home.  Some  of  them,  like  Carl  Schurz,  were 
refugees  who  preferred  exile  to  prison  or  even  death. 

The  largest  foreign  element  in  this  period  was  the  Irish. 
Conditions  in  Ireland  were  bad;  in  1846  a  famine  swept  away 
hundreds  of  thousands.  From  1845  to  1855  more  than  a  mil- 
lion came  over  to  this  country.  The  passages  of  some  were 
paid  by  local  governments  and  societies  at  home ;  others  paid 


CARL  SCHURZ. 


304  Economic  Progress 

for  themselves.  Great  numbers  were  brought  over  at  the 
expense  of  their  friends  and  relatives  who  had  already  arrived 
in  the  United  States. 

242.   EFFECTS  OF  IMMIGRATION 

A  considerable  part  of  the  Irish  immigrants  and  some  of  the 
Germans  settled  down  in  the  seaports  and  other  towns  of  the 
eastern  states,  but  immigration  sifted  to  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. The  rising  cities  of  the  interior,  such  as  Buffalo,  Cleve- 
land, Cincinnati,  Chicago,  and  St.  Paul,  attracted  some  Irish 
and  a  large  number  of  Germans.  Great  numbers  of  both  races 
took  up  farms,  especially  in  the  West. 

Wherever  they  went,  the  immigrants  helped  to  increase  the 
wealth  of  the  country.  In  return  for  their  money  wages,  they 
gave  their  labor ;  the  buildings,  ships,  roads,  and  machinery 
which  they  made  were  a  vast  contribution  to  the  national 
wealth.  Part  of  them  took  over  the  hard  jobs  of  unskilled  labor, 
and  thereby  the  better  educated  and  better  trained  men  already 
in  the  country  were  set  free  to  direct  and  build  up  enterprises. 

The  immigrants  brought  with  them  many  of  their  own  cus- 
toms. The  Scandinavians  were  Protestants.  Most  of  the 
Irish  and  some  of  the  Germans  were  Catholics,  who  at  once 
took  their  place  within  the  national  Catholic  Church  and 
helped  to  build  it  up.  The  Germans  brought  into  the  country 
the  Christmas  tree,  a  greater  love  of  music,  the  manufacture 
.  of  German  beer  and  wine,  and  a  greater  interest  in  education 
and  literature.  The  Irish  brought  their  fondness  for  street 
processions  and  pageants,  and  very  soon  showed  a  skill  in 
making  political  combinations  and  building  up  parties,  which 
quickly  brought  them  into  the  center  of  political  life.  Some  of 
the  German  immigrants  formed  communities,  such  as  those  of 
the  Amana  Society  in  central  Iowa.  A  few  of  the  German 
Swiss  and  Scandinavians  formed  settlements  of  their  own, 
in  which  they  kept  their  language,  schools,  and  customs.  The 
Germans  and  Irish  generally  expected  to  spend  their  lives  and 


Timber  and  Mineral  Wealth  365 

bring  up  their  children  in  America,  and  hastened  to  be  nat- 
uralized and  to  become  full-fledged  citizens.  Most  of  the 
German  children  quickly  learned  the  English  language.  Hardly 
any  immigrants  returned  to  their  native  land. 

243.   TIMBER  AND  MINERAL  WEALTH 

One  of  the  most  widespread  sources  of  wealth  was  the  timber, 
which  even  in  colonial  times  had  furnished  masts,  ships,  and 
sawed  timber  and  boards  for  export  (§  77).  By  1830  most  of 
the  northern  coast  states  had  been  cleared  of  the  valuable 
trees,  but  there  still  remained  splendid  pine  forests  in  northern 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  New  York.  Considerable  parts 
of  the  southern  states  still  stood  in  timber,  which  was  used  prin- 
cipally for  the  production  of  tar  and  turpentine.  The  Alle- 
gheny Plateau  became  a  great  center  for  the  lumber  industry 
between  1830  and  1860.  From  western  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania and  eastern  and  southern  Ohio  the  trees  could  be  rafted 
down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers;  and  for  fifty  years 
this  was  a  steady  and  profitable  business.  Local  sawmills  cut 
timber  for  farm  and  city  buildings  and  for  bridges,  Most  of 
the  farm  fences  of  that  period  were  made  of  split  rails,  and 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  moved  into  Illinois,  he  built  up  a  repu- 
tation for  his  ability  as  a  rail  splitter.  Sawmills  could  be  run  by 
water  power  or  by  cheap  engines  and  boilers  in  which  the 
refuse  of  the  mill  could  be  used  for  fuel. 

The  wealth  beneath  the  soil  was  many  times  more  valuable 
than  that  growing  above  it.  Coal  had  been  known  from  early 
colonial  times,  and  after  1815  began  to  come  into  many  new 
uses.  Benjamin  Franklin  invented  a  handy  open  stove  in 
which  wood  could  be  used  to  heat  rooms ;  and  the  soft  or 
bituminous  coal  had  long  been  used  in  Pittsburgh  and  else- 
where for  house  purposes.  Now  came  the  use  of  coal  for  all 
kinds  of  factories  and  other  business.  The  cost  of  pig  iron 
was  reduced  by  the  discovery  that  anthracite  could  be  used 
instead  of  the  old-fashioned  charcoal  to  smelt  iron  (1838). 


366  Economic  Progress 

Hence  a  great  iron  industry  was  built  up  in  the  Pennsylvania 
mountains  near  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  Eight  years 
later  the  clay  furnace  in  western  Pennsylvania  made  it  possible 
to  use  soft  coal  for  the  same  purpose,  and  that  led  to  building 
many  iron  furnaces  near  the  coal  of  western  Pennsylvania  and 
eastern  Ohio.  Illuminating  gas,  first  manufactured  in  America 
in  1816,  was  a  new  comfort  for  the  cities  and  enlarged  the  use  of 
coal,  which  shortly  became  also  the  usual  fuel  for  making  steam, 
first  in  factories  and  then  in  locomotives  and  seagoing  steamers. 

From  very  early  times  it  was  known  that  there  was  a  rich 
deposit  of  lead  along  the  upper  Mississippi,  especially  near 
Galena,  Illinois,  and  a  steady  and  prosperous  mining  industry 
grew  up  there.  Besides  the  California  mines  (§  232),  some 
gold  was  found  in  Georgia,  and  for  a  long  time  a  little  branch 
mint  was  maintained  at  Dahlonega  in  the  mountains.  Iron 
ore  was  abundant  both  east  and  west  of  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains, and  there  was  abundance  of  the  limestone  that  was 
necessary  to  use  as  a  "flux"  in  the  furnaces,  along  with  the 
fuel  and  the  iron  ore,  in  order  to  produce  pig  iron. 

The  inhabitants  of  northwestern  Pennsylvania  failed  to 
realize  that  underneath  their  feet  lay  one  of  the  greatest  sources 
of  wealth  in  the  whole  country.  On  Oil  Creek,  a  tributary  of 
the  Allegheny  River,  oil  had  been  found  in  colonial  times  and 
was  collected  by  spreading  out  blankets.  It  was  supposed  to 
be  a  remedy  for  rheumatism.  Until  1859  no  one  thought  of 
drilling  wells.  The  common  illuminating  oil  in  the  eastern 
states  was  whale  oil.  In  the  West  some  very  dangerous  oils 
were  distilled  from  coal,  but  ordinary  families  depended  upon 
candles  for  their  household  light. 

244.   INDUSTRIAL  INVENTIONS 

From  1825  to  1860  the  country  was  producing  a  series  of 
amazing  labor-saving  inventions,  and  that  made  it  possible  to 
develop  cheap  raw  materials  and  thus  to  reduce  the  cost  of 
manufactured  products  of  every  kind.  The  first  necessity  was 


Industrial  Inventions 


367 


the  improvement  of  tools  and  machinery.  In  this  period  comes 
the  beginning  of  the  American  manufacture  of  edged  tools  of 
every  kind.  Wood-working  was  cheapened  beyond  any  con- 
ception by  the  invention  of  planing  machines,  one  of  which 
would  do  the  work  of  twenty  men.  The  introduction  of  plat- 
form scales  was  a  great  convenience  to  factories  and  farmers. 
The  .  factory  system,  begun 
before  the  War  of  1812,  was 
now  adapted  to  many  new 
industries.  Improved  looms 
were  introduced  in  the  textile 
mills,  and  by  1860  there  were 
about  two  thousand  mills 
that  used  them. 

To  furnish  power  for  cotton 
mills,  woolen  mills,  paper  mills, 
and  other  industries,  dams  were 
built  on  the  falls  of  rivers  in  the 
eastern  and  southern  states, 
and  that  caused  the  appear- 
ance of  such  manufacturing 
towns  as  Manchester,  Nashua, 
Lowell,  Holyoke,  Cohoes, 
Trenton,  and  Richmond.  The 
invention  of  the  turbine  water; 
wheel  (1834)  made  it  possible  to  use  waterfalls  of  only  a  few  feet. 

The  spirit  of  invention  spread  to  the  household.  Friction 
matches,  invented  in  England  in  1827,  gradually  took  the 
place  of  the  old  flint  and  steel.  The  first  iron  cook  stove  was 
put  on  the  market  about  1840  and  proved  a  great  relief  to 
the  labors  of  the  housewife.  Churns  run  by  dog  power  were 
introduced.  Fanning  mills  were  used  for  winnowing  grain. 
The  methods  of  farming  were  changed  in  many  parts  of  the 
country  by  the  introduction  of  farm  machinery.  The  first 
horse  reaper  was  invented  by  a  Virginian,  McCormick,  in  1834, 


CYRUS  H.  MCCORMICK,  ABOUT 
1875.  (From  a  photograph  lent  by 
the  family.) 


368  Economic  Progress 

and  was  the  basis  of  the  present  elaborate  mowers  and  reapers. 
Improved  horse  rakes,  drills,  and  seeders  began  to  be  used. 
About  1840  improved  portable  threshing  machines  came  into 
use  —  the  early  ones  run  by  horse  power. 

The  inventions  extended  also  to  death-dealing  contrivances. 
The  people  had  long  been  used  to  what  had  first  been  called 
" screw  guns";  that  is,  rifles.  These  weapons  were  much 
improved,  and  about  1835  the  first  Colt's  revolver  was  in- 
troduced. Some  attempts  were  made  to  invent  a  breech-load- 
ing service  gun,  but  the  ordinary  weapon  of  soldiers  was  still 
the  old-fashioned  muzzle-loading,  smooth-bore  musket. 

245.   TRANSPORTATION  BY  SEA 

One  of  the  greatest  changes  of  the  period  was  the  improvement 
of  transportation  both  by  sea  and  by  land.  As  has  already 
been  noted,  steamboats  spread  rapidly  through  the  eastern 
coast  waters  and  the  western  lakes  and  rivers  (§  178).  The 
next  step  was  to  install  steam  machinery  on  seagoing  vessels. 
The  ordinary  marine  engine  of  the  time  had  a  heavy  walking 
beam  which  seesawed  up  and  down  to  carry  power  from  the 
steam  cylinders  to  the  paddle  wheels.  It  was  difficult  to  use 
this  machinery  in  heavy  seas,  but  it  was  adapted  for  coasters. 

In  1819  the  ship  Savannah,  fitted  with  auxiliary  steam 
power  —  that  is,  with  engines  for  use  during  only  part  of  the 
voyage,  when  there  was  too  little  wind  to  fill  the  sails  — 
voyaged  from  New  York  to  Savannah  and  thence  to  Liver- 
pool. Certain  doubters  worked  out  a  scientific  proof  that  no 
steamer  could  carry  enough  fuel  to  cross  the  ocean  solely  by 
steam  power;  but  in  1838  the  steamers  Sinus  and  Great 
Western  arrived  from  England  practically  under  steam  alone. 
Two  years  later  the  Cunard  Company  established  a  regular 
steamship  line  from  Boston  to  Liverpool.  All  these  early 
steamers  had  masts  and  used  sail  power  whenever  they  could, 
to  help  them  on,  or  to  steady  the  ship.  The  bulk  of  the  sea 
freight  was  still  carried  in  wooden  sailing  ships. 


Internal  Transportation  by  Water  369 

The  growth  in  the  average  size  of  seagoing  vessels  called 
attention  to  the  need  of  deepening  and  otherwise  improving 
the  harbors.  In  1824  Congress  began  to  make  small  appro- 
priations for  such  purposes  —  an  expenditure  that  has  since 
grown  to  many  millions  a  year.  Among  the  early  projects 
thus  undertaken  was  the  Delaware  breakwater  (begun  in 
1829). 

To  carry  the  growing  trade  of  the  United  States  and  that  of 
other  countries,  American  shipping  engaged  in  foreign  trade 
reached  the  highest  point  in  our  history  —  2,500,000  tons 
—  in  1861.  These  were  the  days  of  the  magnificent  clipper 
ships,  wooden  sailing  craft  of  unexcelled  speed  and  handiness, 
making  their  swiftest  voyages  from  England  to  New  York 
sometimes  in  less  than  fourteen  days,  and  from  China  to  New 
York  in  about  eighty  days. 

Screw  steamers  as  yet  were  mostly  ships  of  war,  but  the 
ocean  paddle  steamers  grew  in  size  and  speed  till  they  could 
cross  the  ocean  in  twelve  days.  In  1847  Congress  granted  a 
subsidy  —  an  annual  money  gift  —  to  two  lines  of  steamers : 
$850,000  a  year  to  the  Collins  American  line,  New  York  to 
Liverpool ;  and  $200,000  a  year  to  a  line  from  New  York 
to  Bremen.  The  Collins  line  was  extravagantly  managed, 
lost  several  ships,  and  broke  down  in  1858. 

246.   INTERNAL  TRANSPORTATION  BY  WATER 

The  movement  of  coal,  iron  ore,  and  other  minerals  and 
the  carrying  of  manufactured  products  brought  about  a  demand 
for  improvements  in  the  internal  system  of  transportation. 
Even  such  highways  as  the  Cumberland  Road  (§  179)  could 
not  carry  much  heavy  freight,  and  the  favorite  system  of  the 
time  was  the  canal.  The  success  of  the  Erie  Canal  (§  180) 
led  other  states  to  attempt  the  same  thing  across  a  rougher 
country.  Pennsylvania  began  a  canal  system  across  the  Alle- 
ghenies  in  1826,  and  six  years  later  had  a  railroad  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Columbia,  a  canal  thence  to  the  base  of  the  moun- 


370  Economic  Progress 

tains,  an  inclined  road  for  hauling  the  boats  in  sections  over  the 
mountains,  and  a  canal  from   the  other  side  to  Pittsburgh. 


MISSISSIPPI  RIVKR  STEAMERS. 

Several  side  canals  were  also  constructed  by  Pennsylvania, 
including  one  from  the  Ohio  River  below  Pittsburgh  to  Lake 
Erie  (finished  1844).  Ohio  in  1825  entered  upon  the  con- 
struction of  canals  from  several  places  on  the  Ohio  River  to 
Lake  Erie.  Indiana  spent  $8,000,000,  and  the  476,000  people 
of  Illinois  ran  into  debt  $14,000,000,  or  $30  a  head.  A  few  im- 
portant canals  were  built  by  private  corporations,  especially 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  (1820),  and  the  Schuylkill  Navigation 
(1818-1825)  for  carrying  coal.  Eventually  about  six  thousand 
miles  of  canals  were  constructed  in  the  United  States,  of  which 
less  than  one  thousand  miles  are  now  in  use. 

The  old  objection  to  the  building  of  internal  improvements 
by  the  federal  government  still  continued  (§  180).  Jackson 
(1830)  vetoed  a  bill  for  the  Maysville  Road  from  the  Ohio 
River  across  Kentucky,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  local  im- 
provement. He  felt  sure  that  the  public  money  would  be  spent 
for  enterprises  that  did  the  general  public  little  good.  On  the 
same  grounds  he  vetoed  several  harbor  bills.  Nevertheless, 
Congress  yielded  on  this  point  so  far  as  to  grant  immense  tracts 


Railroads  37! 

of  public  lands  (beginning  in  1837)  to  the  states  to  be  used  by 
them  for  the  construction  of  canals  and  other  similar  works. 
The  result  was  not  very  happy.  States  like  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois  planned  systems  of  canals  so  great  that  the  proceeds  of 
the  land  grants  were  not  enough  to  pay  for  making  them,  and 
many  of  them  were  left  incomplete  and  have  never  been  re- 
vived. 

247.   RAILROADS 

All  other  forms  of  internal  improvement  were  soon  cast 
into  the  shade  by  railroads,  which  suddenly  cheapened  trans- 
portation, stimulated  travel,  and  built  up  new  states  and  cities. 
The  first  railroads  in  America  were  a  short  temporary  tramway 
for  carrying  heavy  loads,  built  in  1807  in  Boston,  and  a  perma- 
nent one  constructed  in  1810  near  Philadelphia.  Railroads  were 
soon  begun  westward  from  Albany,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Charleston ;  but  in  1830  only  23  miles  had  been  built 
and  were  in  operation  by  the  various  companies,  all  for  cars 
to  be  drawn  by  horses. 


A  RAILROAD  TRAIN  OF  1831.     (From  a  photograph  of  the  original  train, 
lent  by  the  New  York  Central  R.  R.) 

Soon  after  1830  several  great  changes  came  about  in  rail- 
roads.    An    imported    steam    locomotive    was    introduced    in 


372 


RAILROADS  AND 
WATER  WATS 

OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES 

IN  1850 


y  vV"^ 


373 


374  Economic  Progress 

1829  for  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company;  in  1830 
Peter  Cooper  built  an  American  locomotive  for  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio,  whereby  horses  were  displaced.  The  inclined 
planes  with  stationary  engines,  which  were  introduced  on 
many  railroads,  were  replaced  by  continuous  tracks;  and  on 
some  roads  coal  was  used  as  a  fuel  instead  of  wood.  In  1834 
the  first  long  railroad  in  the  world  was  completed  —  136  miles 
from  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  to  Hamburg,  opposite  Au- 
gusta. 

The  first  railroads  had  stone  sleepers,  or  were  built  on  piles 
driven  along  the  line  of  the  road.  At  right  angles  to  the 
sleepers  were  laid  the  rails,  wooden  stringers  about  six  inches 
square ;  to  these  were  spiked  short  lengths  of  wrought  iron 
strips  perhaps  half  an  inch  thick,  and  the  curling  up  of  the 
loosely  attached  irons  was  a  common  source  of  accident.  The 
gauges  varied  from  4  feet  8  inches  to  6  feet.  The  cars  were 
at  first  modeled  on  the  old  stagecoaches,  but  the  roads  soon 
began  to  build  the  long  car  with  a  platform  at  each  end  and 
an  aisle  through  the  middle.  Trains  ran  about  fifteen  miles 
an  hour,  and  the  early  fares  were  three  or  four  cents  a  mile. 
As  there  was  no  system  of  train  dispatching,  accidents  were 
frequent. 

At  first  anybody  who  could  pay  the  tolls  was  allowed  to  run 
his  cars  on  the  tracks ;  but  after  locomotives  came  in,  it  was 
seen  that  both  the  roadbed  and  the  motive  power  must  be 
managed  together..  Several  states  looked  on  railroads  as  only 
a  new  type  of  public  highway ;  and  Massachusetts,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Georgia,  North  Carolina,  Michigan,  and  other  states 
built  lines  of  state  railroad;  others  aided  new  roads  with 
grants  of  money.  Since  many  roads  ran  from  one  state  into 
another,  state  ownership  was  difficult ;  and  state  management 
was  expensive  and  clumsy ;  hence,  eventually  most  of  the 
states  sold  or  leased  their  lines  to  private  companies. 

The  railroad  mileage  in  1840  was  under  3000 ;  in  1850,  9000 ; 
in  1860,  30,000.  Till  1850  there  was  hardly  such  a  thing  as  a 


Business  Organization  375 

through  railroad  line,  but  in  1851  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  was  finished  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie,  and  in 
1853  a  continuous  chain  of  separate  lines  of  railroad  reached 
Chicago  from  the  east.  In  1859  railroads  from  the  north  and 
east  reached  New  Orleans.  The  railroads  now  began  to  be  con- 
solidated into  systems  by  uniting  them  end  to  end ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  five  short  connecting  lines  from  Albany  to  Buffalo, 
and  five  other  lateral  strips,  in  1853  were  united  under  the 
New  York  Central. 

Beginning  with  a  grant  to  the  Illinois  Central  in  1850,  the 
United  States  aided  western  railroads  by  immense  grants  of 
public  lands.  It  was  a  natural  suggestion  that  a  road  might 
be  built  to  the  Pacific  in  the  same  way,  and  Congress  went 
so  far  as  to  send  out  several  exploring  expeditions,  especially 
one  in  1853,  which  surveyed  various  practicable  routes.  Though 
a  railroad  was  built  by  American  capital  across  the  Panama 
Isthmus  and  opened  for  business  in  1855,  the  plans  for  an  isth- 
mian canal  still  came  to  nothing. 

248.   BUSINESS  ORGANIZATION 

Such  great  enterprises  as  new  water-power  works,  canals, 
and  railroads  could  not  have  been  carried  out,  except  by  a  much 
improved  system  for  doing  business,  especially  after  the  panic 
of  1837  had  shaken  out  a  great  number  of  weak  concerns. 
This  was  the  system  of  incorporated  companies,  like  banking 
corporations,  with  limited  liability  and  salaried  managers.  Not 
only  canals  and  railroads,  but  also  turnpikes  arid  bridges,  tex- 
tile mills,  and  other  enterprises  were  carried  on  by  such  cor- 
porations. There  was  lively  competition  between  concerns  in 
the  same  line  of  business ;  but  after  1850  some  of  the  companies, 
especially  in  the  telegraph  and  railroad  business,  began  to  com- 
bine into  larger  corporations. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  enlarged  business  and  profits  was  the 
growth  of  a  class  of  wealthy  men.  John  Jacob  Astor  made  large 
investments  in  New  York  real  estate,  and  left  a  great  fortune  to 


376  Economic  Progress 

his  family,  which  they  have  kept  through  four  generations. 
Others  made  large  fortunes  out  of  railroad  building  or  iron 
manufacture  or  out  of  wholesale  business,  such  as  dry  goods  or 
groceries.  Most  of  them  were  self-made  men  who  had  begun 
as  wage  earners.  They  had  money  to  put  into  new  buildings, 
piers  and  ships,  and  railroads.  They  owned  bank  stock  and 
helped  to  carry  on  the  banking  business.  Retail  lines  of  busi- 
ness were  almost  all  carried  on  by  small  firms.  It  was  the 
habit  of  the  country  storekeeper  to  make  a  trip  once  or  twice 
a  year  to  the  most  convenient  wholesale  point,  New  Orleans, 
Baltimore,  or  New  York,  and  buy  goods  for  the  next  season. 
At  that  time  no  firms  sent  out  traveling  salesmen. 

The  banking  business  during  Jackson's  administration  was 
much  confused  and  there  were  many  heavy  losses.  After  the 
panic  of  1837  several  of  the  states,  especially  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Louisiana,  adopted  laws  similar  to  the  New 
York  safety  fund  system  (§222).  In  some  states  all  the 
banks  contributed  to  a  fund  for  redeeming  the  notes  of  failed 
banks.  In  other  states  they  were  obliged  to  keep  a  specie  re- 
serve in  order  to  protect  the  note-holders'.  In  several  stages, 
especially  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Alabama,  the  states  them- 
selves went  into  the  banking  business,  in  some  instances  pro- 
hibiting any  other  banks.  Throughout  the  country,  however, 
the  doubtful  and  bad  banknotes  were  a  great  obstacle  to 
business.  In  1860  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  five  thou- 
sand different  issues  of  worthless  or  doubtful  or  counterfeited 
banknotes  in  circulation.  Every  time  a  merchant  received 
money,  he  had  to  consider  whether  the  bills  were  perfectly 
good,  ought  to  be  taken  at  a  discount,  or  should  be  refused. 

249.   THE  FUR  TRADE 

In  the  far  West  there  was  only  one  line  of  profitable  trade 
and  that  was  the  fur  industry,  which  held  over  from  the  colonial 
period,  and  which  was  one  of  the  main  things  that  led  to  the 
annexation  of  Oregon  and  California.  The  center  of  that  trade 


The  Fur  Trade  377 

was  always  St.  Louis,  because  it  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri River,  the  basin  of  which  embraced  a  large  part  of  the  fur 
country  east  of  the  Rockies.  There  were  two  or  three  very 
important  firms,  of  which  the  Sublettes  were  the  most  noted. 
They  fitted  out  parties  of  factors  and  trappers  who  made  their 
way  up  the  river  to  such  points  as  Fort  Benton,  where  they  had 
permanent  posts.  Some  of  them  employed  trappers  of  their 
own  on  annual  salaries,  others  depended  chiefly  on  Indians  to 
bring  in  the  pelts.  The  traders,  in  caravans,  frequently  took 
goods  into  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country,  and  dealt  with  the 
wild  men  there.  For  many  years  there  was  a  running  fight 
between  the  traders  and  certain  tribes  of  Indians.  The  Black- 
feet  were  notorious  for  their  habit  of  robbing  and  murdering 
whites. 

The  most  valuable  fur  then,  as  in  colonial  times,  was  the 
beaver,  which  was  supplied  in  large  quantities  and  always 
brought  a  good  price ;  although  there  were  som9  rare  pelts  such 
as  the  otter  which  commanded  higher  prices.  Besides  the 
animals  that  were  trapped,  the  buffaloes  furnished  a  large 
trade  in  their  long-haired  pelts ;  the  warm  buffalo  robes  were 
used  like  blankets  all  over  the  northern  part  of  the  country. 
Though  the  buffaloes  ranged  far  north  in  the  Rockies,  their  great 
habitat  was  the  plains  from  the  Missouri  River  west  to  what  is 
now  Colorado.  There  they  roamed  in  uncounted  millions, 
furnishing  food  and  tent  materials  for  the  neighboring  Indians, 
and  the  hides  were  brought  east  by  thousands. 

The  fur  traders  were  the  first  to  discover  the  great  through 
routes  across  the  continent.  They  early  followed  up  the  Platte 
River  and  discovered  an  easy  divide  north  of  Great  Salt  Lake 
to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Lewis  or  Snake  River,  which  was  a 
branch  of  the  Columbia ;  though  it  lay  so  deep  in  a  canyon  that 
the  usual  route  crossed  over  the  Blue  Mountains  direct  to  the 
Columbia  River.  Neither  Astor  nor  other  fur  traders  from  the 
United  States  were  successful  in  the  fur  trade  on  and  around 
the  Columbia,  chiefly  because  of  the  strong  competition  of  the 


378  Economic  Progress 

Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Some  of  the  traders,  however,  were 
the  first  to  discover  a  practicable  route  across  the  Sierra  Nevada 
to  California,  and  they  also  developed  the  route  up  the  Sacra- 
mento River  and  thence  across  mountains  into  Oregon. 

250.   EXPANSION  or  COMMERCE  (1840-1860) 

One  object  of  the  annexation  of  Oregon  and  California  was 
to  secure  ports  for  direct  trade  with  the  Pacific  islands,  China, 
and  Japan.  The  halfway  station  of  the  Sandwich  or  Hawaiian 
Islands  had  for  twenty  years  been  under  the  influence  of  Amer- 
ican missionaries,  and  the  native  dynasty  recognized  that  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  were  greater  than  those  of  any 
other  power.  Chinese  trade,  however,  was  much  hampered 
by  restrictions  in  Chinese  ports.  In  1844  Caleb  Gushing,  sent 
out  by  the  United  States,  was  able  to  secure  a  very  desirable 
commercial  treaty  by  which  five  Chinese  "treaty  ports"  were 
designated  for  American  trade;  American  consuls  were  al- 
lowed to  hold  court  for  cases  involving  their  countrymen ;  and 
American  merchants  and  other  people  got  the  right  to  buy 
pieces  of  ground  for  their  own  occupancy,  "and  also  for  hos- 
pitals, churches,  and  cemeteries." 

Japan  refused  to  admit  any  traders  or  foreign  merchantmen 
on  any  terms,  till  the  United  States  sent  Commodore  Matthew 
C.  Perry  to  open  up  relations.  He  entered  ports  where  no 
European  vessel  had  ever  been  seen ;  he  succeeded  in  breaking 
in  the  shell  of  the  old  empire ;  and  he  secured  a  favorable 
commercial  treaty  in  1854. 

The  annexation  of  California  affected  the  country  in  still 
another  way.  The  gold  from  that  state  furnished  coins  which 
freely  circulated  ;  and  gold  at  once  became  a  new  export,  having 
very  large  value  in  small  bulk.  After  1848  also,  there  was 
a  great  foreign  demand  for  American  breadstuffs.  Exports  in 
1856  were  nearly  three  times  as  great  as  in  1846. 

The  revenues  of  the  government  from  duties  on  imports 
rose  so  fast  that  a  new  tariff  was  passed  by  a  nonpartisan  vote 


Review  379 

(March  3,  1857).  Every  member  from  Massachusetts  and 
every  member  from  South  Carolina  voted  for  the  bill,  which 
decreased  the  existing  low  duties  of  1846  (§  229)  by  about  a 
fifth ;  and  the  average  rate  of  duties  was  brought  down  to  about 
20  per  cent.  Before  the  new  tariff  could  have  any  effect,  a 
commercial  panic  came  upon  the  country,  caused  principally 
by  the  expenditure  of  about  $70,000,000  on  railroads  in  ten 
years.  The  panic  began  in  August,  1857,  and  in  October  all 
the  banks  in  the  country  suspended  specie  payment;  many 
railroads  failed;  and  first  and  last  more  than  five  thousand 
business  houses  broke,  with  losses  of  more  than  $150,000,000. 
The  federal  government  saw  its  annual  revenue  reduced  from 
$76,000,000  to  $46,000,000 ;  and  it  was  obliged  to  issue  treasury 
notes  for  its  expenses.  Still  there  was  no  such  widespread  suf- 
fering and  no  such  check  to  business  as  after  the  panic  of  1837, 
and  by  1860  business  was  again  normal. 

251.  REVIEW 

The  three  decades  after  1830  were  a  period  of  great  expansion, 
not  only  in  population  but  in  business,  politics,  and  intel- 
lectual life.  Large  quantities  of  the  western  lands  passed  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  government  at  a  low  price,  or  were  made 
absolute  gifts  to  old  soldiers  or  to  states.  In  1841  a  Pre- 
emption Act  was  passed,  intended  to  restrict  sales  to  actual 
occupiers.  Many  of  the  Indian  tribes  occupied  reservations-; 
and  in  the  South  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  made  preparations 
to  remain  against  the  wishes  of  Georgia.  The  Indians  were 
obliged  to  move  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

Great  numbers  of  people  moved  from  the  East  to  the  West, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  immigrants  arrived  from  foreign 
countries.  At  first  most  of  them  came  from  English-speaking 
countries.  Then  came  Germans,  Scandinavians,  and  others. 
Large  numbers  of  Irish  came  after  1845. 

In  various  parts  of  the  country  there  was  a  great  lumber 
trade,  and  hard  coal  and  soft  coal  were  developed  as  fuel  for 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  24 


380  Economic  Progress 

houses,  for  making  steam,  for  gas,  and  for  making  iron.  Oil 
wells  were  discovered  in  western  Pennsylvania.  New  inven- 
tions and  processes  increased  the  output  of  manufactures  of 
all  kinds,  and  inventive  genius  was  applied  to  household  and 
farm  implements. 

Steam  was  applied  to  seagoing  steamers,  and  after  1838  to 
trans-Atlantic  steamers,  but  the  American  shipping  was  mostly 
of  wood,  including  the  splendid  clipper  ships.  Congress  appro- 
priated some  money  for  subsidies  to  steamer  lines  to  Europe. 
On  land,  long  stretches  of  canals  were  built,  but  Congress  refused 
to  spend  money  for  such  objects.  Railroads  for  general  trans- 
portation came  in  just  before  1830,  and  several  of  the  states  built 
public  lines.  The  federal  government  aided  with  immense 
land  grants  (after  1850),  but  most  of  the  roads  were  owned  by 
private  companies.  Commerce  was  expanded  by  trade  with  the 
Orient,  and  Japan  was  opened  to  trade  in  1854.  A  lower  tariff 
was  passed  in  1857. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  372-373.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  232,  241,  490.  —  Coman,  Indttst.  Hist.,  224,  250.  —  Dodd, 
Expansion  and  Conflict,  133,  134,  139. — MacDonald,  Jucksoiiian 
Democracy,  178,  182. — Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  202. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  461-468.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  160- 
187  (§§  141-165),  212-288  (§§  186-242).  —  Carlton,  Organized  Labor, 
ch.  iii.  —  Chittenden,  Am.  Fur  Trade.  —  Coman,  Econ.  Beginnings  of 
the  Far  West,  I.  300-375  ;  Indust.  Hist.,  ch.  vii.  —  Day,  Commerce,  ch. 
xlviii.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  ch.  iii.  —  Fish,  Am.  National- 
ity, 173-192  passim,  242,  264-276,  333-335.  —  Hart,  Formation  of  the 
Union,  §§  136,  137.  —  MacDonald,  Jacksonian  Democracy,  chs.  viii, 
x,  xvi.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,V.  121-183  passim,  537-540,  VI.  79-94,  220- 
232,  327-335,  421-429,  464-466,  518-523,  VII.  221-227.  —  Raymond, 
Peter  Cooper,  1-51.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  III.  370-380,  477-480,  IV. 
122-131,  233-235. — Turner,  New  West,  chs.  xiii,  xvii.  —  Wilson, 
Division  and  Reunion,  §§  20,  21,  23,  24,  52,  81,  82. 

Sources.  Ames,  Slate  Docs,  on  Fed.  Rels.,  113-132.  —  Bogart  and 
Thompson,  Readings,  276-282,  285-295,  376-484,  507-542.  —  Caldwell 
and  Persinger,  Source  Hist.,  380-387.  —  Callender,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs. 


References  and  Topics  381 

vii-ix,  xiii,  xiv.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  III.  §§  165-167;  Patriots  and 
Statesmen,  III.  304-309,  IV.  148-152,  186-189,  272-277,  320-379 
passim,  V.  186-189,  246-259.  —  James,  Readings,  §§  73,  75,  82.  — 
Johnson,  Readings,  §§  94-97.  — Old  South  Leaflets,  nos.  147,  151. 

Pictures.      Bogart,  Econ.   Hist.  —  Coman,  Indust.   Hist.  —  Dunbar, 
Hist,  of  Travel  in  Am.  — Mentor,  serial  no.  87.  —  Sparks,  Expansion. 


Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  frontiersman,  or  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 
[§  240]  — •  (2)  Moving  the  Indians  west.  [§  240]  —  (3)  Immigration  in 
sailing  vessels.  [§  241]  —  (4)  Early  life  in  some  western  city.  [§  242]  — 
(5)  Early  use  of  anthracite  as  fuel,  or  of  coal  to  smelt  iron,  or  of  illu- 
minating gas.  [§  243]  —  (6)  Early  lead  mining  in  Illinois,  or  gold  mining 
in  the  South.  [§  243]  —  (7)  Invention  of  the  reaper.  [§  244]  —  (8)  Early 
journeys  by  steamers  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  or  on  eastern  coast  waters, 
or  on  the  Great  Lakes,  or  on  the  Mississippi,  or  on  small  rivers. 
[§§  245,  24°]  —  (9)  First  steam  locomotives.  [§  247]  —  (10)  Early 
travel  by  rail.  [§  247]  —  (n)  Fur  trade  on  the  upper  Missouri  River. 
[§  249]  —  (12)  Fur  traders  and  Indians.  [§  249]  —  (13)  Perry's  expedi- 
tion to  Japan.  [§  250] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(14)  Frontier  life  on  government  land  after  1830.  [§  239]  —  (15)  Early 
immigration  from  Scandinavia,  or  from  Germany,  or  from  Ireland. 
[§  241]  —  (16)  Influence  of  one  of  the  following  races  on  the  United 
States:  Scandinavians;  Germans;  Irish;  English;  Scotch-Irish; 
Scotch;  Welsh.  [§  242]  —  (17)  Life  in  one  of  the  following  factory 
towns :  Lowell ;  Lawrence ;  Nashua ;  Holyoke ;  Cohoes ;  Trenton. 
[§  244]  —  (18)  Account  of  the  clipper  ship  trade.  [§  245]  —  (19)  Ac- 
count of  one  of  the  following  canals  :  Pennsylvania  east  and  west  line ; 
Pittsburgh  and  Erie ;  Ohio  Canal ;  Sandusky  to  Cincinnati ;  Fort 
Wayne.  [§  246]  —  (20)  First  surveys  for  a  Pacific  railroad.  [§  247]  — 
(21)  Early  trade  relations  with  China,  or  with  Japan.  [§  250] 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

SECTIONAL  CONTROVERSY   (1850-1859) 
252.   WHY  SLAVERY  DIVIDED  THE  COUNTRY 

IN  spite  of  the  Compromise  of  1850,  which  both  parties  pro- 
nounced a  " finality,"  the  slavery  question  continued  to  be  the 
most  serious  and  hotly  contested  issue  in  the  minds  of  the 
American  people.  The  abolitionists  never  ceased  to  hold  meet- 
ings and  publish  papers  and  write  pamphlets  against  slavery. 
They  looked  on  the  Compromise  of  1850  as  simply  a  means  of 
giving  a  free  hand  to  the  slaveholders.  Though  the  abolitionist 
societies  were  fewer  and  smaller  than  a  few  years  earlier,  the 
number  of  antislavery  men  and  women  was  much  greater  in 
the  North,  because  the  long  debates  over  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  had  aroused  public  feeling. 

The  movement  against  slavery  was  greatly  aided  by  a  book 
called  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  written  by  a  New  England  woman, 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.  It  first  appeared  as  a  serial  in  1851, 
and  afterward  in  many  editions  .in  book  form.  The  book  was 
not  written  with  the  expectation  of  affecting  politics;  but  it 
expressed  a  bitter  feeling  of  injustice,  that  any  man  should  be 
allowed  to  own  another  man.  It  made  the  whole  world  see  the 
human  side  of  negro  character,  the  kinship  of  men  of  every 
race.  It  was  the  only  antislavery  book  that  was  widely  read 
and  discussed  in  the  South. 

How  far  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  is  a  truthful  picture  of  slavery 

has  been  much  disputed.     Mrs.  Stowe  had  seen  something  of 

slave  life  in  Kentucky;    and  some  of  the   incidents,  such   as 

Eliza's  escape  on  the  ice,  were  actual  events.     The  purpose 

382 


National  Questions  of  Slavery  383 

of  the  book  was  to  call  attention  to  the  inevitable  cruelty  of 
human  bondage  and  its  degrading  effect  on  the  master,  and 
to  that  end  the  author  made  use  of  harrowing  scenes,  all  of 
which  were  possible  under  slavery,  and  many  of  which  were 
like  incidents  set  forth  in  the  southern  newspapers  of  the  time. 

253.  THE  STATES  IN  THE  SLAVERY  CONTEST 

• 
The  abolitionists  always  built  upon  the  fact  that  slavery, 

wherever  it  existed,  was  founded  on  laws  made  by  the  state 
and  not  by  the  nation.  If  half  the  states  in  the  Union  could 
prohibit  slavery,  the  other  half  might  do  the  same,  if  they 
could  be  persuaded  or  terrified  into  doing  so.  But  not  a  single 
slaveholding  state  would  budge ;  not  a  single  law  was  passed 
to  prevent  such  abuses  as  the  breaking  up  of  negro  families  by 
sale,  or  the  sale  of  little  children  away  from  their  mothers. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  free  states  were  induced  to  pass  laws 
unfavorable  to  slavery,  which  usually  were  called  "Personal 
Liberty  Bills."  Under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793  a  free 
negro  who  was  suspected  of  being  a  fugitive  might  be  arrested 
without  any  real  examination  of  the  facts;  and  in  many  in- 
stances free  men  were  thus  kidnaped  and  sent  into  slavery. 
To  meet  this  danger,  the  northern  states  began  about  1840  to 
pass  acts  forbidding  the  state  officials  to  take  any  part  in  pro- 
ceedings against  such  persons.  So  far  the  states  were  acting 
within  their  rights;  but  either  before  or  after  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act  of  1850,  statutes  were  passed  in  all  the  northern 
states  except  two,  interfering  in  various  ways  with  the  opera- 
tion of  the  national  fugitive  slave  statute.  All  these  acts 
showed  that  the  free  states,  Constitution  or  no  Constitution, 
would  not  recognize  any  responsibility  for  slavery. 

254.  NATIONAL  QUESTIONS  OF  SLAVERY 

Though  slavery  was  made  by  state  action  and  could  be  un- 
made or  weakened  by  the  same  power,  it  could  not  be  kept 
free  of  some  control  by  the  federal  government.  That  was 


384  Sectional  Controversy 

the  main  reason  why  the  Compromise  of  1850  was  a  failure: 
it  could  not  stop  the  discussion  with  regard  to  slavery ;  and 
notwithstanding  its  so-called  "finality,"  discussion  in  Congress 
continued  under  four  different  clauses  of  the  Constitution : 

(1)  The  Constitution  gave  Congress  power  to  legislate  for 
the   District   of    Columbia    "in   all    cases   whatsoever."     For 
thirty  years  abolitionists  urged  and  petitioned   Congress  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  District,  and  they  were  not  in  the  least 
pleased  with  the  limited  act  of  1850  on  this  subject  (§  236). 

(2)  Congress  had  complete  power  over  both  the  foreign  and 
the  interstate  slave  trade;    the  foreign  slave  trade  was  pro- 
hibited by  the  act  of   1807  (§  183),  but  as  late  as  1859  some 
southern  writers  demanded  that  the  African  slave  trade  be  re- 
opened.    The  domestic  trade  was  never  restricted  except  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  after  1850. 


ROUTES  OF  THE  "UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD"  FOR  FUGITIVE  SLAVES. 

(3)  Congress    had    power    over    the    recovery    of    fugitive 
slaves  and  exercised  it  in   the  two  acts  of   1793   and    1850, 
the  latter  of  which  was   especially  hated   by  the  antislavery 
element.     Southerners  complained  of  the  increasing  use  of  the 
"  Underground  Railroad  "  (  §  235). 

(4)  Under  its  general  power  to  regulate  the  territories,  Congress 


National  Oucslions  of  Slavery  385 

prohibited  slavery  by  four  statutes  applying  to  four  definite 
areas  :  (a)  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  /or  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, reaffirmed  by  an  act  of  Congress  of  1789  (§  115);  (6) 
the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  covering  all  the  Louisiana 
cession  north  of  36°  30'  except  the  state  of  Missouri  (§  185) ; 
(c)  the  Texas  resolution  of  1845,  prohibiting  slavery  in  states 
that  might  be  formed  in  Texas  territory  north  of  36°  30'  (§  228) ; 
(rf)  the  Oregon  Act  of  1848,  prohibiting  slavery  in  that  terri- 
tory (§  234).  It  was  clear  that  any  future  annexation  of  ter- 
ritory would  lead  to  a  fierce  contest  to  decide  which  section 
should  control  the  new  region. 

The  conflict  in  Congress  was  intensified  by  the  appearance 
of  several  ardent  antislavery  men  in  both  houses.  The  first 
such  senator  was  John  P.  Hale  of  New  Hampshire  (1847). 
Then  in  1849  came  Chase  of  Ohio,  William  H.  Seward  of  New 
York,  and  in  1857  Sumner  of  Massachusetts.  Seward,  born 
in  1 80 1,  went  to  Union  College  and  was  for  a  short  time  tutor  in 
a  slaveholding  family  in  the  South.  He  entered  politics  in 
New  York  state  and  was  twice  Whig  governor  of  New  York 
(1839-1843).  His  intimate  friend  and  political  manager  was 
Thurlow  Weed,  one  of  the  most  adroit,  long-headed,  and  un- 
scrupulous politicians  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

In  the  debate  of  1850  Seward  was  the  leader  of  the  antislavery 
forces  against  the  compromise.  His  argument  was  that  com- 
promises settled  nothing,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  try  to  pro- 
vide for  such  questions  before  they  came  up.  In  his  speech 
Seward  let  fall  a  phrase  which  seemed  monstrous  to  the  South : 
"The  Constitution  devotes  the  domain  to  union,  to  justice,  to 
defense,  to  welfare,  and  to  liberty.  But  there  is  a  higher  law 
than  the  Constitution,  which  regulates  our  authority  over  the 
domain,  and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble  purpose."  What 
he  meant  to  say  was  that  the  law  of  God  agreed  with  the  Con- 
stitution ;  what  he  was  understood  to  say  was  that  the  higher 
law  nullified  the  Constitution,  which  recognized  slavery  as 
existing  in  some  states  and  territories. 


386 


Sectional  Controversy 


255.   FUGITIVE  SLAVE  CASES  (1851-1858) 

The  slaves  themselves  helped  to  keep  their  cause  before  the 
public  mind  because  every  year  a  few  of  them  ran  away  into 
free  states.  The  radical  antislavery  people  ignored  and  scouted 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  in  many  instances  resisted  it. 
Among  such  affairs  the  most  startling  cases  were  those  of 
Shadrach,  Gorsuch,  and  Burns. 

Early  in  1851,  an  undoubted  fugitive  named  Shadrach  was 
arrested  in  Boston  and  brought  before  the  United  States  com- 
missioner. Before  the  proceed- 
ings ended,  an  eyewitness  said, 
"We  heard  a  shout  from  the 
courthouse  continued  into  a  yell 
of  triumph,  and  in  an  instant 
after  down  the  steps  came  two 
huge  negroes  bearing  the  prisoner 
between  them  with  his  clothes 
half  torn  off,  .  .  .  and  they  went 
off  toward  Cambridge,  like  a 
black  squall,  the  crowd  driving 
along  with  them,  and  cheering 
as  they  went." 

In  September,  1851,  a  Mary- 
land man  named  Gorsuch,  who 
had  pursued  runaways  to  Chris- 
tiana, Pennsylvania,  was  killed  by  a  band  of  negroes,  probably 
including  his  own  slaves.  A  Quaker  named  Castner  Hanway 
was  present  and  refused  to  aid  Gorsuch.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  frighten  the  abolitionists  by  trying  Hanway  for  treason 
for  this  refusal  to  take  part  in  capturing  a  fugitive.  The 
prosecution,  however,  broke  down,  and  the  slayers  of  Gorsuch 
were  not  found. 

In  1854,  while  a  fugitive  named  Burns  was  confined  in  the 
United  States  courthouse  in  Boston,  a  mob  of  abolitionists,  in 


RUNAWAY  SLAVE.    (Cut  used 
in  newspaper  advertisements.) 


President  Pierce  and  Cuba  387 

an  attempt  to  rescue  him,  broke  in  the  door  and  killed  one  of 
the  deputy  marshals. 

Attempts  were  made  to  prosecute  the  rescuers  of  Shadrach 
and  other  fugitives ;  but  juries  would  not  convict.  The  truth 
was  that  northern  public  sentiment  was  so  strong  that  it  was 
hardly  worth  while  for  southern  slave  owners  to  appeal  to  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  northern  state  governments  would 
not  assist  in  sending  a  hunted  fugitive  back  to  lifelong  captivity 
for  no  crime  except  that  of  being  born  a  black  slave. 

256.   PRESIDENT  PIERCE  AND  CUBA  (1852-1855) 

So  far  the  slavery  question  had  had  little  effect  on  parties, 
except  for  the  group  of  Free-soilers  (§  234),  who  cast  only 
300,000  votes  in  1848.  Still  the  two  old  parties  were  losing 
vitality.  No  serious  issue  existed  between  them :  the  Whigs 
no  longer  insisted  on  a  United  States  bank,  or  national  internal 
improvements,  or  a  protective  tariff;  while  inside  each  party 
there  was  a  strong  and  fierce  division  on  slavery. 

In  the  political  campaign  of  1852  the  Whigs  nominated  Win- 
field  Scott  of  Virginia,  a  good  soldier,  but  a  weak  candidate. 
The  Democratic  convention,  after  a  fierce  competition,  nom- 
inated an  inconspicuous  man,  Franklin  Pierce  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, who  had  been  in  Congress  and  had  served  creditably  in 
the  Mexican  War.  Pierce  received  254  electoral  votes  to  42 
for  Scott,  though  the  Whigs  succeeded  in  polling  nearly  i  ,400,000 
popular  votes  against  1,600,000  for  the  Democratic  ticket  and 
155,000  for  the  Free-soil  Democrats,  which  was  the  name  taken 
by  the  antislavery  party. 

President  Pierce  made  William  L.  Marcy  of  New  York 
Secretary  of  State,  and  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi  Sec- 
retary of  War.  In  his  inaugural  address  he  showed  a  strong 
leaning  toward  slavery  by  proposing  to  annex  Cuba,  a  rich 
slaveholding  island  (§  190).  This  was  not  a  new  idea.  Presi- 
dent Polk  in  vain  offered  Spain  a  hundred  million  dollars  for 
the  island  in  1848,  and  from  1849  to  1851  several  expeditions  of 


388  Sectional  Controversy 

"filibusters"  —  that  is,  of  volunteer  adventurers  —  were 
fitted  out  in  New  Orleans,  to  land  men  in  Cuba.  One  of  them, 
under  Lopez,  was  captured  by  the  Spaniards,  and  Lopez  with 
about  fifty  of  his  followers  was  executed. 

President  Pierce  appointed  Pierre  Soule,  of  Louisiana,  as 
minister  to  Spain.  He  was  an  ardent  "fire  eater,"  as  extreme 
advocates  of  slavery  were  called,  and  he  bent  all  his  energies 
to  acquire  Cuba.  The  time  for  a  war  of  conquest  seemed  to 
have  arrived  when  the  American  steamer  Black  Warrior  was 
seized  in  Havana  for  a  technical  violation  of  the  customs  regu- 
lations (March,  1854). 

While  this  question  was  pending,  Soule  and  two  other  foreign 
ministers  drew  up  the  "Ostend  Manifesto"  (October,  1854), 
which  was  an  open  avowal  that  Cuba  must  be  annexed  in 
order  to  protect  slavery.  If  Spain  should  refuse  to  sell  Cuba 
for  a  fair  price,  the  manifesto  declared,  "then  by  every  law, 
human  and  divine,  we  shall  be  justified  in  wresting  it  from  Spain 
if  we  possess  the  power  [lest]  we  permit  Cuba  to  be  Africanized." 
Marcy's  influence  was  against  annexation,  and  the  United  States 
accepted  a  settlement  of  the  Black  Warrior  difficulty  (February, 
1855).  This  proved  to  be  a  deathblow  to  the  plan  of  annexation. 

257.   DOUGLAS  AND  THE  NEBRASKA  BILL  (1854) 

The  main  reason  for  holding  back  from  Cuba  was  the  trouble 
that  Pierce's  administration  had  with  the  Nebraska  question. 
After  1820  the  region  west  of  the  Missouri  River  remained  with- 
out a  territorial  government,  which  was  much  needed  when  the 
overland  travel  to  California  began  on  a  large  scale  in  1849 
(§  232).  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois,  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  territories,  introduced  a  bill  for  the  or- 
ganization of  Nebraska  Territory  (January  4,  1854).  The 
Missouri  Compromise  prohibited  slavery  there,  but  Douglas 
asserted  that  that  compromise  had  been  set  aside  by  the  New 
Mexico  and  Utah  bills  in  the  Compromise  of  1850  (§  236),  and 
he  insisted  on  "popular  sovereignty"  or  "squatter  sover- 


Douglas  and  the  Nebraska  Bill  389 

eignty  " ;  that  is,  the  right  of  the  people  of  a  territory  to  make 
their  own  laws,  like  the  people  of  the  states.  After  various 
twists  and  turns  he  was  compelled  to  come  into  the  open  and 
declare  in  the  text  of  his  bill  that  the  antislavery  clause  of 
the  Missouri  act  "is  hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void." 
The  point  in  dispute  was  whether  the  "principle"  of  the  act 
of  1850,  which  in  terms  applied  only  to  the  annexation  of  1848, 
could  "supersede"  the  details  of  the  act  of  1820,  which  in 
terms  applied  only  to  the  Louisiana  cession. 

In  this  controversy 
Douglas  represented  a 
strong  influence  which 
eastern  men  did  not 
understand.  Born  in 
Vermont  in  1813,  he 
early  went  to  Illinois, 
where  he  held  various 
state  offices,  including 
that  of  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  In 
1847  he  was  sent  from 
Illinois  to  the  Senate, 
and  there  represented 
those  crude  but  deter- 
mined political  forces 

which  had  earlier  made 

STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS,  ABOUT  18-0. 
Jackson  President.    He 

came  from  a  constituency  which  was  accustomed  to  care  for 
itself,  and  which  therefore  thought  it  as  reasonable  that  the 
people  of  a  territory  should  settle  the  question  of  slavery 
as  that  they  should  settle  the  question  of  schools.  Later 
in  his  career  he  made  the  significant  admission  that  he  "did 
not  care  whether  slavery  was  voted  down  or  voted  up";  but 
he  was  very  ambitious,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was 
looking  forward  and  hoped  to  convince  the  southern  Democrats 


390  Sectional  Controversy 

that  he  would  be  a  safe  and  powerful  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency in  the  next  election.  Still  Douglas  was  one  of  the  few 
statesmen  interested  in  the  future  of  the  West.  His  theory  of 
"  squatter  sovereignty  "  fitted  in  with  the  general  principles 
of  democracy. 

Of  all  American  public  men,  Douglas  was  the  fiercest  debater. 
Though  a  short  man,  he  had  a  big  voice  which  poured  forth 
anything  that  came  into  his  mind,  especially  a  coarse  and 
effective  personal  abuse  of  those  who  opposed  him.  He  was 
quick  and  forcible,  and  never  much  concerned  himself  about 
accuracy  or  consistency.  His  main  defect  was  that  he  could 
not  understand  the  moral  opposition  to  slavery. 

258.   TROUBLE  IN  KANSAS  (1854-1856) 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  about  the  Nebraska  bill,  the 
measure  was  amended  so  as  to  divide  the  new  territory  into 
two  territories,  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  showing  a  plain  expec- 
tation that  Kansas,  which  lay  immediately  west  of  Missouri, 
would  become  a  slaveholding  community  to  balance  California. 
In  spite  of  the  bitterest  opposition,  ably  led  by  Chase,  Douglas 
got  37  votes  for  his  bill  in  the  Senate  against  14,  and  then 
forced  the  bill  through  the  House  by  a  vote  of  108  to  100.  He 
had  already  arranged  with  President  Pierce,  who  duly  signed 
the  bill  (May  30,  1854).  Perhaps  Douglas  began  to  see  his 
error  in  allowing  slavery  to  enter  a  free  area  when,  on  the  test 
vote  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  in  the  House,  half  the  north- 
ern Democrats  refused  to  go  with  him ;  and  still  more  when  in 
the  Congressional  election  in  the  fall  of  1854  most  of  the  half 
who  supported  him  lost  their  seats. 

The  difficulty  with  Douglas's  principle  of  "popular  sover- 
eignty "  was  that  it  put  upon  the  first  rush  of  settlers  in  a  new 
territory  the  responsibility  of  deciding  whether  the  future  state 
should  be  free  or  slaveholding.  Hundreds  of  Missourians 
saw  this  chance  and  at  once  crossed  over  into  Kansas  and  en- 
tered up  land  for  farms  which  most  of  them  did  not  mean  to 


New  Republican  Party  391 

occupy.  On  the  antislavery  side,  several  emigrant  aid  com- 
panies were  founded  in  New  England,  and  within  about  three 
years  sent  out  six  thousand  free-state  men,  as  permanent  set- 
tlers, many  of  them  armed  with  a  new  weapon  of  precision,  the 
Sharps  rifle.  In  the  first  Kansas  election  for  members  of  the 
territorial  legislature  (March,  1855)  2905  legal  voters  were 
somehow  credited  with  6307  votes.  Hundreds  of  armed  Mis- 
sourians  came  over  into  Kansas,  and  set  up  or  drove  away 
election  officers  at  their  will.  Thus  they  elected  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  legislature,  which  passed  a  code  of  laws  to  estab- 
lish slavery. 

To  protect  themselves  against  this  minority  rule,  the  anti- 
slavery  people  attempted  to  set  up  a  free-state  government. 
The  rival  settlers  and  neighbors  came  to  civil  war  in  the  spring 
of  1856.  About  two  hundred  lives  were  sacrificed  and  the 
free-state  town  of  Lawrence  was  sacked.  Among  the  most 
reckless  of  the  free-state  people  was  a  man  named  John  Brown, 
who  turned  out  whenever  there  was  a  fight ;  and  in  May,  1856, 
he  directed  his  men  to  seize  and  kill  some  proslavery  neighbors 
at  Osawatomie.  President  Pierce  took  sides  in  favor  of  the 
bogus  territorial  legislature  and  broke  up  the  free-state  govern- 
ment at  Topeka  (July  4,  1856). 

259.   NEW  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  (1854-1856) 

Both  the  Whig  party  and  the  Democratic  party  were  split  by 
the  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill,  and  a  great  effort  was  made  to  form  a 
new  party.  It  first  took  the  form  of  a  short-lived  American 
party,  created  on  the  principles  of  dislike  of  Catholics  and  dis- 
trust of  foreigners.  This  organization  was  backed  by  a  power- 
ful secret  society,  the  members  of  which  always  replied  to  any 
question  about  their  society,  "I  know  nothing  about  it," 
and  they  were  commonly  called  "Know-nothings."  They  car-1 
ried  the  state  government  of  Massachusetts,  and  extended  into 
the  southern  states,  but  they  soon  broke  into  factions  over  the 
slavery  question.  Horace  Greeley  said  that  you  might  as 


392  Sectional  Controversy 

well  try  to  form  an  "anti-potato-rot  party"  as  an  anti-foreign 
party. 

The  antislavery  men  could  count  on  their  155,000  voters  in 
the  election  of  1852  (§  256),  and  were  a  lively  element  in  a  new 
and  strong  political  combination  with  those  "anti-Nebraska" 
Whigs  and  Democrats  who  opposed  Douglas's  squatter  sover- 
eignty. To  this  new  party  the  name  "Republican"  was  given, 
probably  for  the  first  time,  at  Jackson,  Michigan  (July,  1854). 
Their  main  principle  was  to  put  a  stop  to  the  extension  of 
slavery.  By  all  sorts  of  fusions  and  coalitions  of  Know-noth- 
ings, Republicans,  Whigs,  and  Democrats,  the  anti-Nebraska 
people  carried  fifteen  states  in  1854,  and  elected  eleven  senators 
and  a  small  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

In  1856  the  Republicans,  who  were  called  by  their  opponents 
"Black  Republicans,"  girded  themselves  up  for  the  presidential 
election.  Instead  of  nominating  Seward,  their  ablest  man, 
they  put  up  John  C.  Fremont  (§§  227,  231)  who  was  popularly 
supposed  to  have  conquered  California.  To  the  grief  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  the  Democrats  passed  him  over,  precisely  because 
he  had  roused  such  opposition  by  helping  the  South  in  his  Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Bill ;  instead  they  nominated  for  the  presidency 
James  Buchanan  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  the  election  of  1856  Buchanan  received  174  electoral  votes 
to  114  for  Fremont,  and  the  Republicans  failed  to  secure  the 
House  for  1857-1859.  Yet  Fremont  had  1,300,000  votes 
against  1,800,000  for  Buchanan;  and  carried  every  northern 
state  except  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. 

260.   PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN  AND  THE  TERRITORIES 

When  James  Buchanan  was  inaugurated  as  President  in 
March,  1857,  there  was  a  temporary  lull  in  the  controversy 
between  the  sections.  Upon  the  face  of  it,  the  quarrel  was  no 
more  serious  than  the  earlier  struggles  over  the  bank  or  the 
tariff  or  internal  improvements.  The  northern  and  southern 
states  had  about  the  same  kind  of  state  governments,  appealed 


President  Buchanan  and  the  Territories      393 

to  the  same  principles  of  the  equal  rights  of  all  free  men.  The 
only  pressing  trouble  was  the  condition  of  Kansas;  and  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  appointed  Robert  J.  Walker  of  Mississippi  as 
territorial  governor,  with  a  promise  that  the  people  might 
choose  a  convention  to  form  a  state  constitution,  which  was 
then  to  be  submitted  to  the  voters  in  the  territory. 

One  other  territorial  question  proved  troublesome  to  Bu- 
chanan :  this  was  a  serious  disturbance  in  the  territory  of 
Utah.  At  that  time,  most  of  the  overland  traffic  to  California 


MORMON  CHURCH  BUILDINGS,  SALT  LAKE  CITY.     (Tabernacle,  built  1870; 
Temple,  built  1893.) 

went  by  wagon  roads  which  passed  near  Great  Salt  Lake. 
That  neighborhood  was  settled  by  the  Mormons  (§  205),  who, 
under  their  new  prophet  Brigham  Young,  came  out  to  Salt 
Lake  in  1847,  laid  out  farms,  began  an  irrigation  system,  and 
founded  a  city.  Young  publicly  announced  that  he  had  re- 
ceived a  direct  revelation  from  the  Almighty,  by  which  polygamy 
was  to  be  part  of  the  Mormon  religious  system.  The  Mor- 
mons furnished  a  battalion  of  United  States  troops  for  the  Mex- 
ican War,  and  made  no  objection  to  the  cession  of  1848,  which 
brought  them  within  the  United  States.  When  Utah  Territorv 


394  Sectional  Controversy 

was  created  in  1850  (§  236),  Brigham  Young  was  made  the 
first  governor. 

The  Mormons  wanted  to  be  let  alone,  and  made  trouble  for 
the  federal  officials.  In  1857  Buchanan  appointed  a  new  ter- 
ritorial governor,  and  sent  with  him  1500  troops  to  support 
his  authority  over  the  Mormons,  who  were  reported  to  have 
burned  the  court  records,  and  to  be  in  a  state  of  rebellion. 
Governor  Brigham  Young  declared  there  was  no  rebellion  or 
disorder;  he  forbade  the  troops  to  enter  the  territory,  and 
called  out  the  militia,  which  captured  some  of  the  government 
supply  trains  and  tried  to  starve  out  the  federal  troops.  The 
following  year,  however,  the  new  governor  was  peacefully  in- 
stalled, Buchanan  proclaimed  amnesty  for  the  Mormons,  and 
the  troops  entered  the  territory  unmolested. 

261.   KANSAS  AND  THE  DRED  SCOTT  DECISION  (1857) 

Before  the  plan  for  relieving  what  the  antislavery  people 
called  "Bleeding  Kansas"  could  be  carried  out,  the  antislavery 
spirit  was  much  intensified  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
on  the  question  of  territorial  slavery.  Congress  had  failed  to 
settle  that  question  by  the  Kansas- Nebraska  Act,  and  the 
settlers  in  Kansas  had  vainly  tried  to  settle  it  by  a  little  civil 
war.  Yet  the  Supreme  Court  attempted  to  put  an  end  to  the 
controversy  by  a  decision  in  the  famous  case  of  Dred  Scott  vs. 
Sandford.  The  facts  were  that  Dred  Scott,  the  slave  of  a  Dr. 
Emerson,  had  been  taken  from  Missouri,  first  to  Illinois,  which 
was  covered  by  the  Northwest  Ordinance  (§  115),  and  then  to 
what  is  now  southern  Minnesota,  a  region  covered  by  the 
Missouri  Compromise  (§  185).  Dred  Scott  without  objection 
then  accompanied  his  master  to  Missouri,  but  some  years  later 
he  sued  for  his  freedom  on  the  ground  that  his  master  had 
voluntarily  taken  him  into  regions  where  slavery  was  prohibited. 

The  case  went  through  three  trials  in  lower  courts.  In 
March,  1857,  six  of  the  nine  judges  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  united  in  the  assertion  that  the  Missouri  Compromise 


Kansas  and  the  Dred  Scott  Decision        395 

was  no  protection  to  Dred  Scott,  because  that  act  had  always 
been  unconstitutional,  inasmuch  as  Congress  had  no  power  to 
deal  with  slavery  in  the  territories.  So  far  the  opinion  agreed 
with  Douglas's  report  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill ;  but  at  least 
four  of  the  judges  turned  down  the  Douglas  doctrine  of  popular 
sovereignty  (§  257),  by  holding  that  neither  Congress  nor  a 
territorial  legislature  could  prohibit  slavery  in  a  territory.  That 
is,  the  Court,  so  far  as  it  could,  supported  slavery  as  a  national 
institution,  which  was  normal  in  every  territory  and  could  be 
ended  only  by  a  regular  state  government.  Chief  Justice 
Taney  also  laid  down  the  principle  that  Dred  Scott  could  not 
sue,  because  no  negro  could  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  added  that  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  negroes  "had  no 
rights  which -the  white  man  was  bound  to  respect." 

Curtis  and  McLean,  two  judges  from  northern  states,  denied 
all  these  conclusions  and  especially  the  unfounded  statement 
that  negroes  had  been  shut  out  of  the  political  community 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  (§  112).  The  result  was  that 
Dred  Scott  remained  a  slave,  but  in  fact  he  was  immediately 
set  free  by  his  legal  owner.  The  decision  was  so  drastic  that 
the  antislavery  men  and  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party 
declared  that  they  would  not  be  bound  by  it. 

While  the  Republicans  were  in  a  state  of  rage  and  suspicion 
on  account  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  a  proslavery  territorial 
convention  met  at  Lecompton  and  drew  up  a  constitution  for 
the  future  state  of  Kansas  (1857).  Contrary  to  Buchanan's 
promise  (§  260),  the  convention  did  not  submit  their  work  to 
popular  vote,  but  instead  offered  merely  a  choice  of  two  clauses 
concerning  slavery :  the  voters  were  to  cast  their  ballots  only 
for  "Constitution  with  Slavery"  or  for  "Constitution  with  no 
Slavery"  but  not  against  the  Constitution;  and  whichever 
form  might  carry,  the  slaves  then  in  the  territory  were  to  re- 
main slaves.  The  "free-state"  Kansans  refused  to  cast  any 
vote  on  what  they  considered  to  be  a  fraudulent  constitution  ; 
so  it  easily  carried  "with  Slavery."  In  the  territorial  election, 
HART'S  NI-.W  AMKR.  HIST.  —  25 


396  Sectional  Controversy 

meanwhile,  they  had  secured  a  majority  of  the  territorial  legis- 
lature, which  ordered  another  election  to  vote  on  the  Lecompton 
constitution ;  and  in  that  election  the  constitution  was  rejected 
altogether  by  a  very  large  vote.  Nevertheless,  Buchanan  in- 
sisted that  the  Democratic  majority  of  Congress  should  force 
Kansas  into  the  Union  under  the  proslavery  Lecompton  con- 
stitution (1858).  On  a  final  test  ordered  by  Congress,  the 
people  of  Kansas  by  a  crushing  vote  refused  to  be  made  a 
slave  state  against  their  will,  and  therefore  they  remained  a 
territory  till  1861. 

262.   RISE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  (1809-1858) 

The  effort  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  state  was  flatly  against 
Douglas's  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  and  he  refused  to 
support  it.  His  term  in  the  Senate  was  about  to  expire;  and 
in  the  campaign  in  Illinois  a  rival  claimant  appeared  for  the 
seat,  in  the  person  of  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Springfield.  At  this 
time,  he  was  an  obscure  country  lawyer  who  wrote  up  his 
autobiography  as  follows : 

"Born,  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky; 

"  Education  defective ; 

"Profession  a  lawyer; 

"Have  been  a  captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk  War; 

"Postmaster  at  a  very  small  office ; 

"Four  times  a  member  of  Illinois  Legislature ; 

"And  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  Congress." 

Lincoln  rose  steadjly  from  the  squalor  of  a  poor  white  family, 
living  in  Kentucky,  then  in  Indiana,  and  later  in  Illinois.  After 
trying  surveying  and  storekeeping,  he  practiced  law,  went  to 
the  legislature,  was  an  early  Whig  and  became  known  through- 
out the  state  for  his  good  stories,  homely  sayings,  and  honest 
attention  to  the  cases  intrusted  to  him.  In  1841  he  visited  the 
South,  and  he  called  slavery  "a  thing  which  has,  and  con- 
tinually exercises,  the  power  of  making  me  miserable."  From 
1847  to '1849  he  sat  in  Congress  (§  230). 


, 1 


Rise  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

When  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  question  arose, 
Lincoln  came  out  firmly 
for  the  antislavery  cause. 
When  designated  by  the 
Illinois    Republicans   as 
their  candidate   for  the 
senatorship    against 
Douglas   (1858),  he  ac- 
cepted in  a  magnificent 
speech,     of 
which  the  text 
was:  "A house 
dividedagainst 
itself      cannot 
stand.      I  be- 
lieve this  gov- 
ernment   can- 
not    endure 
permanently 
half  slave  and 
half  free." 

He  next  took 
the  bold  step 
of  challenging 
Douglas  to  a 

series  of  public  joint  debates.  In  this  contest,  Douglas  accused 
Lincoln  of  seeking  the  social  equality  of  the  negro,  to  which 
Lincoln  replied:  "In  the  right  to  eat  the  bread  without  the 
leave  of  anybody  else,  which  his  own  hand  earns,  he  is  my  equal, 
and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the  equal  of  every  living 
man."  Lincoln  skillfully  compelled  Douglas  to  put  forth  what 
was  called  the  "Freeport  doctrine,"  to  the  effect  that  the  people 
of  a  territory  might  actually  prevent  slavery  by  "unfriendly 
legislation."  This  was  in  accordance  with  "popular  sover- 


LINCOLN  STUDYING  LAW. 


398  Sectional  Controversy 

eignty,"  but  was  contrary  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision  (§  261). 
Partly  because  of  his  "Freeport  doctrine,"  Douglas  was  re- 
elQCted  to  the  Senate ;  but  when  he  went  back  to  Washington  he 
found  that  the  southern  Democrats,  who  controlled  the  party 
organization,  refused  to  recognize  him  as  an  associate  in  the  party. 

263.   JOHN  BROWN'S  RAID  (1859) 

The  most  striking  event  of  the  year  1859  was  the  attempt  of 
John  Brown  (§  258)  to  cause  a  slave  insurrection  by  establish- 
ing a  camp  for  runaway  negroes  in  the  southern  mountains. 
He  secured  money  and  counsel  from  some  New  England  friends, 
recruited  twenty-two  men,  and  descended  upon  Harpers  Ferry 
(October  16).  He  seized  the  United  States  arsenal,  sent  out 
parties  to  capture  some  of  the  white  planters,  and  tried  to 
rouse  the  neighboring  slaves,  who  were  expected  to  carry 
off  a  quantity  of  the  government  arms.  The  whole  country- 
side was  in  an  uproar ;  but  the  negroes  did  not  rise,  and  the 
engine  house  in  which  Brown  had  fortified  himself  was  finally 
taken  by  United  States  marines  under  Colonel  Robert  E. 
Lee.  Brown  was  wounded  and  captured,  and  ten  of  his  men 
were  killed. 

It  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  Virginia  that  Brown  had  a  fair 
and  open  trial.  He  was  duly  convicted  of  murder  and  treason 
against  Virginia,  and  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  He  some- 
how won  the  respect  of  his  jailers  and  southern  visitors ;  but 
he  never  had  the  slightest  feeling  of  remorse  or  guilt,  and  went 
to  his  death  without  fear.  In  his  last  letter  to  his  family  he 
solemnly  said,  "John  Brown  writes  to  his  children  to  abhor, 
with  undying  hatred  also,  that  sum  of  all  villanies,  slavery." 
Moderate  northern  people  condemned  Brown's  methods,  but 
could  not  help  admiring  his  heroic  spirit.  John  Brown  prob- 
ably did  more  than  any  other  man  to  convince  the  South  that 
slavery  was  no  longer  safe  within  the  federal  Union,  so  long  as 
abolitionists  were  willing  to  sacrifice  their  own  lives  to  free 
other  people's  slaves. 


Review  399 

264.  REVIEW 

Congress  was  again  driven  into  the  slavery  struggle  by  its 
power  to  legislate  on  slavery  in  the  federal  District,  on  the 
slave  trade,  on  fugitive  slaves,  and  on  slavery  in  the  territories. 
The  aid  given  by  the  abolitionists  to  fugitive  slaves,  including 
violent  rescues  in  several  cases,  aroused  the  slave  owners. 

Franklin  Pierce,  as  President,  set  out  to  annex  Cuba.  This 
plan,  which  led  to  the  Ostend  Manifesto  of  1854,  was  interrupted 
by  a  bill  introduced  by  Douglas  for  a  new  territory.  He  proposed 
to  allow  slavery  there  on  the  ground  that  the  Compromise  of 
1850  "superseded"  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  became  law;  but  the  antislavery 
men  at  once  seized  upon  this  new  principle  of  "popular 
sovereignty,"  by  colonizing  Kansas. 

After  a  brief  attempt  by  the  Know-nothings  to  found  an  anti- 
foreign  party,  the  Republican'  party  appeared.  The  various 
opponents  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act  elected  a  majority  in 
the  House  in  1854,  but  in  the  presidential  election  of  1856  the 
Democrats  elected  Buchanan  as  President. 

The  Supreme  Court  decided  in  the  Dred  Scott  Case  (1857)  that 
neither  Congress  nor  the  people  of  a  territory  could  prevent 
slavery  in  a  territory.  This  aroused  the  Republicans,  who 
also  objected  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  made  by  a  pro- 
slavery  convention  and  not  submitted  to  a  popular  vote. 

Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois  came  forward  in  1858  as  an 
antislavery  champion  in  a  series  of  debates  with  Douglas.  The 
next  year  the  whole  country  was  aroused  by  the  attempt  of 
John  Brown  to  raise  a  slave  insurrection  in  Virginia. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 
Geography  and  Maps.     See  maps,  pp.  384,  403.  —  Chadwick,  Causes 

of  the  Civil  War,  80.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  180,  237. 

Secondary.     Bassett,   U.S.,    485-504.  —  Brown,    Lower    South,    50- 

82;   5.  .4.  Douglas.  —  Chadwick,  Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  chs.  i,  iii-vi; 

I'.S.  and  Spain,  I.  chs.  xii,  iii.  —  Fish,  Am.    Nationality,  327-354.  — 

Foster,  Century  of  Diplomacy,   335-356.  —  Hart,   Foundations   of    .1  m. 


4oo  Sectional  Controversy 

Foreign  Policy,  108,  127;  S.  P.  Chase,  130-177. — Johnson,  S.  A. 
Douglas,  chs.  x-xvii.  —  Linn,  Mormons,  458-542.  —  Lothrop,  W.  H. 
Seward,  chs.  vi-x.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  VIII.  45-68,  133-442.  —  Morse, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  I.  93-160.  —  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  I. 
chs.  xviii-xxv,  II.  chs.  i-xi.  —  Pendleton,  A.  H.  Stephens,  chs.  vi-viii.  — 
Rhodes,  U.S.,  I.  207-302,  384-506,  II.  1-416.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  V. 
202-454.  —  Siebert,  Underground  Railroad.  —  Villard,  John  Brown. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  2,  17,  23.  —  Ames,  State  Docs,  on 
Fed.  Rels.,  272-310.  —  Harding,  Select  Orations,  nos.  19-22.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  IV.  §§  29-48;  Patriots  and  Statesmen,  V.  130-250. — 
Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xxi.  —  Lincoln,  Works,  passim.  —  MacDonald, 
Select  Docs.,  nos.  85-92. 

Illustrative.  Brooks,  Boy  Settlers  (Kan.).  —  Cable,  Strange  True 
Stories  of  La.  —  McLaws,  The  Welding.  '—  Morgan,  The  Issue.  — 
Orpen,  Jay-  Hawkers  (Kan.).  —  Paterson,  For  Freedom's  Sake  (Kan.).  — 
Sherlock,  Red  Anvil  (fugitives).  —  Stedman,  How  Old  John  Brown  took 
Harper's  Ferry.  —  Stowe,  Dred;  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  (slavery). — 
Trowbridge,  Neighbor  Jack-wood  (fugitives).  —  Whittier,  Antislavery 
Poems,  159-213;  Brown  of  Osawatomie. 

Pictures.     Sparks,   Expansion.  —  Wilson,   Am.   People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Personal  Liberty  Bills.  [§  253]  —  (2)  Slave-trading  ships  after 
1830.  [§  254]  —  (3)  Public  career  of  one  of  the  following  :  J^hn  P.  Hale ; 
Sumner;  Seward;  Thurlow  Weed.  [§  254]  —  (4)  Details  of  one  of  the 
following  fugitive  slave  cases  :  Shadrach ;  Gorsuch ;  Burns ;  Hamlet ; 
Jerry ;  Crafts ;  Williamson.  [§  255]  —  (5)  Public  career  of  one  of  the  follow- 
ing :  Pierce ;  Marcy ;  Jefferson  Davis ;  Douglas.  [§  256]  —  (6)  Account 
of  the  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Society.  [§  258]  —  (7)  John  Brown 
at  Osawatomie.  [§  258]  —  (8)  Early  history  of  the  Republican  party. 
[§  259]  —  (9)  Mormon  migration  to  Utah.  [§  260]  —  (10)  Abraham 
Lincoln  from  1849  to  1857.  [§  262] — (n)  Lincoln-Douglas  debate. 
[§  262]  —  (12)  John  Brown's  raid.  [§  263] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(13)  Influence  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  [§  252]  —  (14)  Why  was  a  ter- 
ritorial bill  needed  for  Nebraska?  [§  257]  —  (15)  Was  the  Missouri 
Compromise  superseded  by  the  Compromise  of  1850?  [§  257]  —  (16)  Ob- 
jections to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  [§  258]  — •  (17)  The  Know-nothing 
party.  [§  259]  —  (18)  Contemporary  criticisms  of  the  Dred  Scott 
decision.  [§  261]  —  (19)  What  was  the  "  Freeport  doctrine  "?  [§  262] 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

DIVISION  BETWEEN   NORTH  AND   SOUTH  (1860-1861) 
265.   ELECTION  OF  1860 

A  NEW  contest  for  the  presidency  began  as  soon  as  Buchanan 
was  elected  in  1856;  for  the  Republicans  had  great  hopes  of 
carrying  all  the  northern  states  in  1860.  The  Dred  Scott 
decision,  the  Lecompton  controversy,  and  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
debate  all  helped  them  in  their  policy  as  an  antislavery  party. 
They  had  a  small  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
from  1859  to  1861,  but  the  Senate  remained  strongly  Democratic. 
Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi,  leader  of  the  extreme  proslavery 
party,  introduced  a  series  of  resolutions  into  the  Senate  (Feb- 
ruary, 1860),  which  after  some  debate  were  passed  by  35  to 
21  votes.  They  declared:  (i)  that  Congress  ought  to  inter- 
fere, if  necessary,  to  protect  slavery,  thus  going  beyond  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  (§  261) ;  (2)  that  the  northern  states 
ought  to  stop  public  agitation  by  the  abolitionists;  (3)  that 
the  states  were  sovereign. 

In  effect,  the  resolutions  gave  notice  that  the  election  of  a 
President  who  opposed  those  principles  might  be  made  an  ex- 
cuse for  breaking  up  the  Union ;  further,  that  unless  these 
extreme  views  were  accepted  by  the  federal  government,  the 
slaveholding  states  would  have  a  constitutional  right  to  break 
up  the  Union.  Hence  the  whole  country  watched  the  regular 
Democratic  convention  which  met  at  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina in  April.  Douglas  had  a  majority  of  the  delegates,  but  the 
southerners  insisted  that  he  should  accept  a  platform  which 

40! 


402 


Division  between  North  and  South 


was  substantially  the  Davis  resolutions.  Douglas  was  willing 
to  pledge  himself  to  "abide  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court";  but  he  could  not  promise  to  support  any  plan  for 
forcing  slavery  into  an  unwilling  territory. 

On  that  difference  the  convention  split ;  the  delegates  of  most 
of  the  southern  states  withdrew,  and  the  convention  adjourned. 
It  reconvened  at  Baltimore  in  June,  and,  after  another  split, 
Douglas  was  there  nominated,  on  the  platform  proposed  by  his 


ELECTION  CARTOON  OF  1860. 

friends  at  Charleston.  The  southern  bolters  met  separately 
and  nominated  John  C.  Breckinridge,  then  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Many  of  the  old  southern  Whigs,  and  the  northern  Whigs 
who  had  not  become  Republicans,  united  in  what  they  called 
the  Constitutional  Union  party,  and  nominated  John  Bell  of 
Tennessee,  on  the  brief  platform,  "The  Constitution  of  the 
country,  the  union  of  the  States,  and  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws." 

The  Republican  convention  met  in  Chicago  (May  16),  in 
an  immense  hall,  with  thousands  of  spectators.  It  was  gen- 


404          Division  between  North  and  South 

erally  expected  that  Seward  would  be  nominated,  but  he  was 
thought  too  radical ;  what  was  wanted  was  a  moderate  western 
man  who  could  carry  the  doubtful  states  of  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  most 
available  among  such  men ;  and  on  the  third  ballot  he  was 
nominated. 

The  campaign  was  fierce  and  exciting.  On  election  day 
(November  6),  180  Lincoln  electors  were  chosen  against  72  for 
Breckinridge,  39  for  Bell,  and  12  for  Douglas.  Lincoln  had 
the  necessary  majority  of  all  the  electoral  votes,  though  of  the 
popular  vote,  he  had  only  1,900,000  against  1,400,000  for  Doug- 
las, 850,000  for  Breckinridge,  and  600,000  for  Bell.  Yet  if 
his  opponents  had  concentrated  on  any  two,  or  any  one,  of 
the  other  candidates,  the  result  of  the  election  would  have  been 
the  same ;  for  the  Republicans  had  a  majority  in  every  northern 
state  except  New  Jersey,  California,  and  Oregon. 

266.   SECESSION  or  SEVEN  STATES  (1860-1861) 

During  the  campaign  it  was  freely  predicted  that  the  election 
of  Lincoln  would  lead  to  secession.  To  most  northern  men  the 
threat  seemed  preposterous.  Nevertheless,  on  the  day  after 
the  national  election,  the  South  Carolina  legislature  took  steps 
toward  calling  a  secession  convention,  and  within  a  few  days 
the  principal  federal  officers  in  South  Carolina  resigned  their 
offices.  Hardly  a  Union  man  could  be  found  in  the  whole  state ; 
not  one  was  elected  to  the  convention. 

During  the  next  seven  weeks  South  Carolina  was  in  turmoil ; 
federal  buildings  and  supplies  were  seized,  and  companies  of  men 
were  drilled.  The  excitement  culminated  when  the  secession 
convention  at  Charleston,  by  a  unanimous  vote  (December 
20, 1860),  passed  an  ordinance  declaring  that  South  Carolina  was 
no  longer  a  part  of  the  Union.  A  member  of  the  convention 
said,  "We  have  carried  the  body  of  this  Union  to  its  last  rest- 
ing place,  and  now  we  will  drop  the  flag  over  its  grave." 

In  this  awful  crisis  the  country   hardly   had  .a   President. 


Secession  of  Seven  States  405 

Buchanan  had  long  stood  on  the  same  political  ground  as  the 
radical  southerners,  and  he  called  in  Jefferson  Davis  to  advise 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  IN  1860. 


406          Division  between  North  and  South 

him.  The  President's  message  to  Congress  (December  3) 
was  a  helpless  document ;  he  laid  all  the  trouble  to  "  the  inces- 
sant and  violent  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  throughout 
the  North  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century."  As  for  secession, 
Seward  neatly  summed  up  the  message  as  follows:  "The 
President  has  conclusively  proved  two  things :  (i)  that  no  state 
has  a  right  to  secede  unless  it  wishes  to ;  and  (2)  that  it  is  the 
President's  duty  to  enforce  the  laws  unless  somebody  opposes 
him." 

After  secession,  the  South  Carolina  government  immediately 
demanded  the  surrender  of  the  forts  within  its  borders ;  and 
while  the  question  was  pending,  Major  Anderson,  in  command 
of  the  scanty  force  in  Charleston  harbor,  moved  his  troops 
(December  26)  from  the  exposed  Fort  Moultrie  into  the  strong, 
isolated  Fort  Sumter.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  insisted  that 
he  should  give  up  Fort  Sumter.  Jeremiah  Black,  Secretary  of 
State,  and  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  who  had  just  entered  the  Cabinet, 
declared  that  in  that  case  they  would  resign.  "You  don't 
give  me  any  time  to  say  my  prayers,"  said  Buchanan;  "I  al- 
ways say  my  prayers  when  required  to  act  upon  any  great 
state  affairs."  In  the  end  he  yielded  to  his  northern  advisers, 
and  Anderson  was  left  in  Fort  Sumter. 

It  was  understood  from  the  first  that  other  states  would 
follow  South  Carolina,  and  between  January  9  and  February 
i,  six  other  state  conventions,  specially  chosen  for  that  pur- 
pose, voted  secession  ordinances.  The  six  additional  states 
were  Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  and 
Texas.  In  two  of  them,  Alabama  and  Georgia,  there  was  a 
strong  opposition  and  a  close  vote.  In  all  these  states,  before 
secession,  most  of  the  United  States  mints,  posts,  arsenals,  forts, 
public  buildings,  and  public  property  were  seized.  All  that 
remained  in  federal  hands  were  Fort  Pickens,  below  Pensacola, 
Key  West  and  the  Dry  Tortugas  on  detached  islands,  and  Fort 
Sumter  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston. 

The  next  step  was  to  combine  the  seceded  states  into  a  union. 


Southern  and  Northern  Grievances          407 

In  February,  1861,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  six  states 
met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  drew  up  a  "provisional  con- 
stitution "  for  "The  Confederate  States  of  America,"  and  elected 
Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi  President  of  the  new  Confed- 
eracy, and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia  Vice  President. 
A  Cabinet  was  duly  appointed  by  President  Davis.  The  con- 
vention reorganized  as  a  provisional  Congress  and  sat  for 
a  year.  During  that  time  a  permanent  constitution  was 
framed. 

267.   SOUTHERN  AND  NORTHERN  GRIEVANCES 

The  whole  North  was  convulsed  by  the  seven  secessions,  and 
asked  what  were  the  reasons  for  breaking  the  Union.  The 
grievances  of  the  South  were  expressed  in  addresses  of  conven- 
tions, in  pamphlets,  newspapers,  public  speeches,  and  state- 
ments by  southern  members  of  Congress  from  their  seats ;  their 
charges  against  the  North  were  numerous  and  angry.  The 
most  important  grievances  may  be  stated  as  follows : 

(1)  General  hostility.     That  the  North  was  bent  on  making 
money  for  itself,  and  was  no  longer  interested  in  the  general 
welfare  of  the  Union.     The  charge  was  later  made  that  the 
existing  tariff  discriminated  against  the  South;  but  in  1860  the 
South  made  no  such  complaint ;  in  fact  all  the  South  Carolina 
members  of  Congress  had  voted  for  that  tariff. 

(2)  Breach  of  the  Constitution.     That  the  North  misinter- 
preted the  Constitution,  and  would  not  admit  the  doctrine  of 
state  rights  and  secession;    that  the  Republicans  meant  to 
overturn  the  Dred  Scott  decision ;    and  that,  by  the  personal 
liberty  laws,  the  northern  states  defied  the  Constitution. 

(3)  Antislavery.     That  the  North  hated  slavery  and  allowed 
abolition  meetings  and  newspapers  and  members  of  Congress 
to  speak  abusively  of  the  slaveholders ;   and  that  the  northern 
people  approved  of  John  Brown's  insurrection. 

(4)  Territorial  slavery.     That  the  North  would  not  admit 
any  more  slave  states  or  allow  the  annexation  of  slaveholding 


408          Division  between  North  and  South 

territory,  and  was  trying  to  draw  a  "cordon  of  free  states" 
around  the  South  and  thus  slowly  to  strangle  slavery. 

(5)  Election  of  Lincoln.  That  the  choice  of  an  antislavery 
President  was  an  act  of  hostility  to  the  South  and  would  result 
in  an  attack  on  slavery  in  the  states. 

In  this  list  the  main  and  deciding  grievance  is  briefly 
that  the  North  disliked  slavery,  wanted  to  check  it,  and  al- 
lowed people  to  discuss  it.  As  Robert  Toombs  of  Georgia 
put  it,  "What  is  wanted  is  that  the  North  shall  call  slavery 
right."  It  is  also  true  that  the  South  was  fast  losing  strength 
in  Congress.  By  the  admission  of  Minnesota  in  1858,  Oregon 
in  1859,  and  Kansas  (34th  state)  in  1861,  the  number  of  free 
states  was  raised  to  19,  as  against  15  slaveholding  states. 

A  feeling  of  injury  and  wrath  was  also  widespread  in  the  North 
because  of  grievances  expressed  substantially  as  follows : 

(1)  Territory.     That   the   southerners    had  for  years  been 
forcing  the  annexation  of  territory  in  order  to  strengthen  slavery. 

(2)  Free  speech.     That  the  South  had  arrogantly  attempted 
to  put  down  free  speech  and  a  free  press  in  the  northern  states, 
and  even  in  Congress. 

(3)  Citizenship.     That  by  the  South  Carolina  negro  seamen 
act  of  1820  and  other  statutes  against  the  movement  of  free 
negroes,  the  southern  states  violated  rights  of  northern  negro 
citizens  which  were  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. 

(4)  Violence  in  Kansas.     That  the  Kansas  episode  showed 
a  determination  to  foist  a  slavery  constitution  by  fraud  and 
violence  on  the  people  of  a  practically  free  territory. 

(5)  Political  control.     That  the  slave  power  had  ever  since 
1829  practically  controlled  the  presidency,  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  Senate,  and  the  House  (except  for  two  Congresses),  and 
now  wanted  to  leave  the  Union  when  other  people  began  to 
come  into  control. 

(6)  Secession.     That  the  South  entertained  doctrines  of  se- 
cession which  were  contrary  to  the  Constitution  and  destructive 
to  the  Union. 


Basis  of  Secession  409 

268.   BASIS  OF  SECESSION 

Were  there  no  Union  men  in  the  South?  There  were  thou- 
sands. A  few  were  permanent  Union  men,  such  as  Sam  Hous- 
ton of  Texas,  and  James  L.  Petigru  of  South  Carolina,  who 
marched  out  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  in  Charleston,  when 
prayers  were  first  offered  for  the  President  of  the  Confederacy ; 
but  most  of  them,  like  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  yielded  when 
their  states  seceded.  Stephens,  born  in  1812,  educated  in  North 
Carolina,  entered  Congress  as  a  Whig  in  1843.  Though 
Little  and  boyish  in  appearance,  he  was  soon  recognized  as 
one  of  the  strongest  men  in  Congress.  When  the  crisis  of 
1861  came,  Stephens  headed  the  opposition  to  the  secession 
of  his  state,  Georgia.  He  urged  that  the  southern  people  had 
not  been  entirely  blameless,  and  that  the  only  real  ground  for 
secession  was  the  personal  liberty  laws,  which  would  probably 
be  withdrawn  if  a  proper  effort  were  made. 

Nearly  all  southerners  admitted  that  the  majority  in  each 
state  should  decide  whether  there  was  sufficient  reason  for  se- 
cession ;  but  they  upheld  the  principle  that  if  there  was  sufficient 
reason,  there  was  an  undeniable  right  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union;  and  they  felt  that  such  a  secession  ought  not  to  be 
looked  upon  by  the  North  as  a  breach  of  the  Constitution 
or  as  a  hostile  act.  The  southern  theory  of  secession  can 
be  traced  back  to  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions 
(§  152)  and  the  nullification  doctrine  (§  201).  It  was,  in  ef- 
fect, that  secession  was  not  war,  but  a  constitutional  and 
practical  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  controversy  between  the 
sections. 

Even  admitting  that  secession  was  right,  many  serious  ques- 
tions were  left  undecided : 

(i)  The  constitutionality  of  secession  was  not  self-evident, 
though  it  was  accepted  not  only  by  southern  public  men,  but 
by  some  in  the  North.  Once  admit  that  the  states  were  sov- 
ereign and  the  Constitution  only  a  compact,  and  any  state 


4io         Division  between  North  and  South 

was  undoubtedly  entitled  to  leave  the  Union  whenever  it  wished. 
But  had  the  states  ever  been  sovereign? 

(2)  The  expediency  of  secession,  even  if  it  were  constitu- 
tional,  depended    on    what    the    secessionists  wanted.     Some 
preferred  to  go  out  of  the  Union,  so  as  to  put  a  pressure  on 
the  North  to  readmit  them  on  such  terms  as  they  might  dic- 
tate ;    but  Davis  and  other  leaders  from  the  first  intended  to 
form  a  permanent  southern  government,  and  they  confidently 
expected  all  the  slave  states  to  join  them. 

(3)  Secession  under  any  circumstances  was  really  a  solution 
of  the  problem  only  if  it  did  not  lead  to  war.     Most  southern 
leaders  thought  the  North  would  not  fight ;    others  foresaw  a 
long  war,  notwithstanding  the  arguments  for  the  constitutional 
right  of  secession,  but  were  sure  that   the    South   would   be 
successful  in  the  end. 

(4)  The  most  potent  reason  for  the  whole  doctrine  of  seces- 
sion was  clearly  that  it  offered  a  means  of  relieving  slavery 
from  the  dangers  that  were  growing  up  under  the  Union.     When 
the  Georgia  convention  declared  for  secession,  Stephens  an- 
nounced that  he  would  go  with  his  state,  and  later  made  a 
famous  speech  in  which  he  said  of  the  Confederate  constitution : 
"  Its  foundations  are  laid,  its  corner  stone  rests  upon  the  great 
truth,  that   the   negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white  man;    that 
slavery   ...   is  his  natural  and  normal  condition."     This  left 
unanswered  the  question  whether  slavery  would  be  protected 
by  a  war  between  South  and  North. 

269.   ATTEMPTED  COMPROMISE  (1860-1861) 

As  soon  as  the  danger  of  secession  was  realized,  four  des- 
perate attempts  were  made  to  stop  it  by  framing  a  compromise, 
something  like  those  which  had  averted  trouble  in  1820,  1833, 
and  1850  (§§  185,  218,  236): 

(i)  Special  committees  of  the  House  and  Senate  were  ap- 
pointed (December,  1860),  to  try  to  prepare  bills  or  consti- 
tutional amendments  that  would  hold  the  Union  together. 


Attempted  Compromise  411 

In  the  Senate  committee,  the  Republicans  offered  a  proposition 
(which  we  now  know  was  drafted  by  Abraham  Lincoln)  to  the 
effect  that  neither  the  federal  government  nor  the  free-state 
governments  should  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  states;  but 
they  added  the  very  unwelcome  clause  that  fugitive  slaves  should 
have  a  jury  trial.  Jefferson  Davis,  as  the  southern  spokesman 
in  the  committee,  demanded  that  the  free  states  should  be 
put  under  obligation  to  protect  slave  owners  who  might  wish 
to  carry  slaves  across  free  territory  or  to  hold  them  there  for 
short  periods. 

(2)  The  House  committee  submitted  the  "Corwin  Amend- 
ment" against  interference  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  the 
states,  and  both  houses  approved  it  but  it  never  was  ratified 
—  it  was  too  weak  and  too  late.     Plainly,  neither  side  really 
desired  compromise. 

(3)  As  yet  the  secession  movement  had  not  spread  to  the  five 
"border  states"  —  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
and  Missouri  —  nor  to  the  next   tier   of  southern   states  — 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Arkansas.     Senator  Crittenden 
of  Kentucky  brought  forward  a  set  of  constitutional  amend- 
ments intended  to  keep  these  doubtful  states  in  the  Union. 
The  plan  included  a  division  of  future  territory  between  free- 
dom and  slavery;  and  against  it  Lincoln,  as  President-elect, 
used  all  his  personal  influence  over  the  Republicans  in  Congress. 
He  felt  that  any  compromise  which  recognized,  extended,  and 
perpetuated  territorial  slavery  was  an  admission  that  the  Re- 
publican party  had  no  reason  for  existence. 

(4)  A  fourth  attempt  at  compromise  was  a  "Peace  Congress," 
called  by  the  border  states  at  Washington  in  February,  1861. 
This  body  sat  for  a  month  and  made  a  report,  which  was  sub- 
stantially the  Crittenden  compromise;  but  it  could  make  no 
headway. 

Neither  side  would  give  way  in  Congress  or  outside  on  the 
main  issue,  which  was  whether  the  federal  government  would 
thereafter  throw  its  influence  for  or  against  slavery.  The 


412          Division  between  North  and  South 

Republicans  would  not  agree  to  let  slavery  alone;  and  the 
South  would  not  agree  to  accept  any  limitation  of  slavery  by  the 
federal  government. 

If  the  North  would  neither  consent  to  secession  nor  make 
a  compromise,  what  was  left  but  to  keep  the  seceding  states 
in  the  Union  by  force?  To  this  remedy  there  were  many 
objections.  Thousands  of  people  in  the  North,  especially  some 
of  the  abolitionists,  thought  the  country  would  be  better  off 
without  the  slaveholding  states ;  the  army  and  navy  were  small 
and  scattered ;  and  President  Buchanan  argued  that  there  was 
no  way  of  "coercing  a  state."  Yet  some  action  had  to  be 
taken,  because  the  sites  of  the  few  southern  forts  still  in  posses- 
sion of  the  United  States  had  been  formally  ceded  by  the  states 
to  the  Union,  and  to  give  them  up  would  be  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  right  of  secession. 

Fort  Sumter,  which  lay  in  the  sea  channel  of  Charleston,  be- 
came the  storm  center.  When  the  merchant  ship  Star  of  the 
West,  carrying  the  stars  and  stripes,  appeared  with  provisions 
and  reinforcements  for  the  fort  (January  9,  1861),  she  was  fired 
upon  by  a  South  Carolina  battery,  and  compelled  to  turn 
back.  Major  Anderson  wisely  referred  the  whole  matter  to 
the  government  in  Washington ;  and  the  South  waited  for  the 
new  Lincoln  administration  to  declare  its  position. 

270.   LINCOLN'S  PURPOSES  (1860-1861) 

For  three  months  after  his  election,  Lincoln  remained 
quietly  at  his  home  in  Springfield,  arranging  his  Cabinet,  receiv- 
ing delegations,  listening  to  office  seekers,  and  keeping  his  eye 
on  Congress.  He  early  selected  Seward  to  be  his  Secretary  of 
State,  and  gave  Chase  of  Ohio  and  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania 
to  understand  that  they  could  come  into  his  Cabinet.  He 
also  sent  word  to  General  Scott  (December  21,  1860),  asking 
him  to  be  prepared  "  to  either  hold  or  retake  the  forts,  as  the 
case  may  require,  at  and  after  the  inauguration." 

In  Februarv,  1861,  Lincoln  started  eastward,  and  made  a 


Lincoln's  Purposes  413 

series  of  speeches  in  which  he  foreshadowed  his  future  policy. 
"On  what  rightful  principle,"  said  he,  "may  a  state,  being  not 
more  than  one  fiftieth 
part  of  the  nation  in  soil 
and  population,  break  up 
the  nation?"  March  4, 
1 86 1,  Lincoln  appeared  at 
the  Capitol,  took  the  oath 
of  office,  and  in  his  inau- 
gural address  sounded  the 
keynote  of  his  administra- 
tion. "I  hold  that  in 
contemplation  of  univer- 
sal law  and  of  the  Con- 
stitution, the  Union  of 
these  states  is  perpetual 
.  .  .  and  to  the  extent  of 
my  ability  I  shall  take 
care  .  .  .  that  the  laws  of 
the  Union  be  faithfully  ex- 
ecuted in  all  the  states. 
.  .  .  Physically  speak- 
ing, we  cannot  separate. 
We  cannot  remove  our 
respective  sections  from 
each  other,  nor  build  an 
impassable  wall  between 
them." 

Lincoln's  first  official 
act  was  to  select  his 
Cabinet,  and  he  showed 
his  political  wisdom  by 
choosing  about  equally 
among  former  Whigs  and 
former  Democrats.  To 


LINCOLN  DELIVERING  HIS  INATGURAL 
ADDRESS,  1861. 


HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST. 


414          Division  between  North  and  South 

Chase  of  Ohio,  the  ablest  of  the  political  abolitionists,  he  assigned 
the  treasury.  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  rather  against 
Lincoln's  judgment,  was  made  Secretary  of  War.  Edward 
Bates  of  Missouri,  Attorney-General,  was  a  southern  Republi- 
can ;  Gideon  Welles  of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  was 
a  former  New  England  Democrat.  Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana 
was  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  Montgomery  Blair  of  Mary- 
land was  Postmaster-General. 

271.   CAPTURE  OF  FORT  SUMTER  (1861) 

The  question  of  Fort  Sumter  could  not  be  long  postponed, 
because   commissioners   of   the   Confederate   government   ap- 


TNTERIOR  OF  FORT  SUMTER  AFTER  BOMBARDMENT,  APRIL,  1861. 


peared  and  demanded  its  surrender.  The  President,  therefore, 
asked  for  written  opinions  from  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  on 
provisioning  Fort  Sumter.  Montgomery  Blair  was  the  only 
member  of  the  Cabinet  who  advised  using  force.  Seward  un- 


Capture  of  Fort  Sumter  415 

wisely  assumed  that  he  was  to  be  the  real  head  of  the  admin- 
istration, and  took  it  upon  himself  to  say  through  third  parties 
to  the  southern  commissioners  that  he  was  sure  that  the  fort 
would  be  given  up.  A  few  days  later  (April  i)  Seward  sent  to 
the  President  a  remarkable  letter,  in  which  he  proposed  to  take 
charge  of  the  government,  and  make  war  on  Spain,  France,  and 
England,  so  as  to  bring  back  the  seceders  to  defend  the  United 
States.  Lincoln  replied  that  the  President  must  do  whatever 
was  done,  and  Seward  at  last  accepted  the  fact  that  the 
President  was  his  chieftain. 

Lincoln  was  convinced  that  even  if  he  gave  up  the  forts,  it 
could  only  postpone  war ;  for  the  old  questions  of  fugitive  slaves, 
of  boundaries,  and  of  the  territories  would  instantly  come  up 
again,  and  the  new  separate  Confederacy  was  certain  to  de- 
mand more  than  was  expected  by  the  southern  states  before 
secession. 

Batteries  were  by  this  time  constructed  around  Charleston 
Harbor,  commanding  Fort  Sumter.  When  Lincoln  at  last  sent 
a  notice  that  he  purposed  to  forward  a  supply  of  provisions  to 
Sumter,  he  threw  on  Jefferson  Davis  and  the  Confederate  states 
the  responsibility  of  firing  the  first  gun.  Even  the  extreme 
southerner  Robert  Toombs  objected  and  said  to  Davis  :  "Mr. 
President,  at  this  time  it  is  suicide,  murder,  and  will  lose  us 
every  friend  at  the  North.  ...  It  is  unnecessary ;  it  puts  us 
in  the  wrong;  it  is  fatal." 

He  was  overruled,  and  instructions  were  given  to  General 
Beauregard,  in  command  of  the  Charleston  district,  to  reduce 
Fort  Sumter.  At  4 :  30  A.M.  of  April  12,  1861,  the  first  shell  was 
fired.  With  his  sixty  men  and  a  few  laborers,  Anderson  de- 
fended himself  against  forts  manned  by  seven  thousand  men. 
After  thirty  hours  of  bombardment,  Fort  Sumter  was  knocked 
about  his  ears,  while  the  relief  expedition  lay  helpless  outside 
the  bar.  Further  resistance  being  useless,  Anderson  surren- 
dered the  fort,  April  14,  marching  out  with  colors  flying  and 
drums  beating,  and  saluting  his  flag  with  fifty  guns. 


416          Division  between  North  and  South 

272.   MAKING  READY  FOR  WAR 

April  15,  1 86 1,  President  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation  call- 
ing on  the  state  governors  to  send  75,000  state  militia,  and  this 
action  invited  the  border  states  to  take  sides  with  either  South 
or  North.  Virginia  at  once  seceded  ;  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and 
North  Carolina  followed.  Not  so  the  other  border  states, 
although  their  governors  all  refused  to  send  militia.  Thus  the 
governor  of  Missouri  replied,  "The  requisition  is  illegal,  uncon- 
stitutional, and  revolutionary  in  its  object,  inhuman  and  dia- 
bolical, and  cannot  be  complied  with."  Delaware  remained 
quiet.  Maryland  for  a  time  seemed  likely  to  secede ;  and  the 
Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  while  passing  through  the  city 
of  Baltimore  (April  19),  was  attacked  by  a  mob  and  several  men 
were  killed  —  the  first  blood  of  northern  troops  shed  in  the  Civil 
War.  In  Kentucky,  the  legislature  had  already  voted  that 
"  Kentucky  should  maintain  a  strict  neutrality."  Later  there 
was  a  nominal  secession  legislature,  but  the  regular  government 
of  the  state  remained  loyal  throughout  the  war.  In  Missouri  a 
camp  of  secessionists  was  formed  in  St.  Louis,  but  the  Germans 
in  the  city  remained  loyal,  were  drilled  and  organized,  and 
under  Captain  Lyon  broke  up  the  camp  (May  10). 

Who  shall  describe  the  excitement,  wrath,  and  -grief  in  the 
North  while  Fort  Sumter  was  under  bombardment?  On 
Sunday,  the  day  of  surrender,  hundreds  of  northern  ministers 
called  on  their  congregations  to  support  the  government.  Next 
day  the  members  of  the  militia  companies  hurried  to  their 
armories ;  the  states  opened  their  arsenals  for  arms  and  military 
supplies ;  banks  offered  millions  of  dollars  in  loans  to  the  state 
governments ;  the  legislatures  appropriated  unheard-of  sums  for 
military  supplies ;  the  women  joined  with  the  men  in  fitting  out 
the  soldier  and  bidding  him  Godspeed.  As  the  need  grew  more 
urgent,  the  flower  of  American  youth  volunteered,  and  some 
colleges  were  almost  broken  up  by  loss  of  students.  Even  the 
President's  old  enemy,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  came  to  him,  and 


Review  417 

offered  any  service  that  he  could  give  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union. 

The  first  full  regiment  to  report  was  the  Sixth  Massachusetts, 
raised  among  the  farmers  and  townspeople  around  Lexington 
and  Concord,  and  its  reception  in  New  York  is  typical  of  the 
popular  feeling  all  over  the  Union.  "We  saw  the  heads  of 
armed  men,  the  gleam  of  their  weapons,  the  regimental  colors, 
all  moving  on,  pageant-like;  but  naught  could  we  hear  save 
that  hoarse,  heavy  surge  —  one  general  acclaim,  one  wild  shout 
of  joy  and  hope,  one  endless  cheer,  rolling  up  and  down,  from  side 
to  side,  above,  below,  to  right,  to  left." 

Meantime  in  the  South  there  was  a  like  enthusiasm  —  regi- 
ments in  gray  marched  to  the  front  amid  the  shouts  and  prayers 
of  the  people.  Both  sides  were  sure  they  were  right.  Which  side 
would  win? 

273.   REVIEW 

In  1860  the  Democratic  party  divided  into  two  factions: 
one  nominated  Douglas  and  the  other  Breckinridge,  an  ex- 
treme proslavery  man.  The  Republican  convention  nominated 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Part  of  the  old  Whigs  formed  a  Consti- 
tutional Union  party  and  nominated  Bell.  Lincoln  was  elected 
by  carrying  nearly  all  the  northern  states.  A  few  weeks  later, 
South  Carolina  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession  and  was  followed 
by  six  other  states.  Buchanan  was  helpless,  but  under  great 
pressure  left  the  federal  garrison  in  Fort  Sumter,  inside  the 
harbor  of  Charleston.  The  seven  seceded  states  formed  "The 
Confederate  States  of  America. " 

The  two  sections  were  thoroughly  aroused,  each  accusing  the 
other  of  attempting  to  use  the  federal  government  for  its  sec- 
tional advantage.  The  main  grievance  was  that  the  election 
of  Lincoln  showed  that  the  North  intended  to  prevent  any 
more  slave  territory  or  slave  states.  Many  southern  leaders 
were  opposed  to  secession,  but  when  their  state  conventions 
declared  for  withdrawing  from  the  Union,  nearly  all  of  them 
"went  with  their  states." 


418          Division  between  North  and  South 

Several  efforts  were  made  in  Congress  to  frame  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  that  would  stop  secession ;  but  the  two  sides 
could  not  agree,  and  Lincoln  opposed  a  compromise.  When 
he  became  President  he  declared  against  secession  and  announced 
that  he  meant  to  execute  the  laws. 

Some  of  his  Cabinet  were  in  favor  of  giving  up  Fort  Sumter, 
but  he  finally  decided  to  send  supplies  and  men  to  hold  it.  The 
Confederate  authorities  therefore  ordered  an  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter,  which  was  taken  after  a  few  hours'  bombardment. 
Amidst  great  excitement  the  President  called  for  volunteers  to 
protect  the  government,  and  four  more  southern  states  seceded. 
The  four  other  border  states  remained  in  the  Union,  and  later 
furnished  men  and  aid  for  the  war. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  403.  436-437.  —  Chadwick, 
Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  132,  244.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict, 
264,  291.  — Epoch  Maps,  nos.  xii,  xiii.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  356. 

Secondary.  Brown,  Lower  SQ  it th,  83-152.  —  Chadwick,  Causes 
of  the  Civil  War,  chs.  vii-xix.  —  Curry,  Govt.  of  the  Confed.  States, 
chs.  i— iv,  ix.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  260-281  ;  Jefferson 
Davis,  chs.  xi-xiv.  —  File,  Presidential  Campaign  of  1860-.  —  Hapgood, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  151-208.  — Hart,  S.  P.  Chase,  178-211.  — Johnson, 
S.  A.  Douglas,  chs.  xviii,  xix.  —  Lee,  General  Lee,  52-98.  — Lothrop, 
W.  H.  Seward,  203-262.  —  Morse,  Abraham  Lincoln,  I.  chs.  vi-viii. 
—  Nicolay,  Outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  1-81.  —  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  II.  chs.  xii-xxix,  III,  IV.  chs.  i-xiii.  —  Paxson,  Civil 
War,  chs.  ii,  iii.  —  Phillips,  Robert  Toombs,  chs.  viii,  ix.  —  Rhodes, 
U.S.,  II.  416-502,  III.  115-415.  —  Schouler,  U.S.,  V.  454-512,  VI. 
1-50.  —  Shaler,  Kentucky,  ch.  xv.  —  Trent,  R.  E.  Lee,  31-48. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  12,  18.  —  Ames,  State  Docs,  on 
Fed.  Rels.,  310-320.  —  Beard,  Readings,  §§  143-148.  —  Caldwell, 
Survey,  108-117.  —  Century  Co.,  Battles  and  Leaders,  I.  7-98.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  IV.  §§  49-74,  76,  77,  96,  97;  Patriots  and  Statesmen, 
V,  261-305. —  Johnson,  Readings,  §§  143-148. — Johnston,  Ant. 
Orations,  III.  230-329,  IV.  16-81.  —Lincoln,  Works,  passim.  —  Mac- 
Donald,  Select  Docs.,  nos.  93-96  ;  Select  Statutes,  no.  i .  —  See  New  Engl. 
Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  87  ;  Syllabus,  353. 


References  and  Topics  419 

Illustrative.  Barton,  Pine  Knot  (Ky.  and  Tenn.).  —  Churchill, 
The  Crisis  (Lincoln).  —  Con  way,  Pine  and  Palm.  —  Fox,  Little  Shep- 
herd of  Kingdom  Come.  —  Morris,  Aladdin  O'Brien.  —  Whittier, 
Antislavcry  Poems. 

Pictures.  Century  Co.,  Battles  and  Leaders,  I.  —  Frank  Leslie's 
Weekly.—  Harper's  Weekly.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Public  services  of  one  of  the  folio  wing:  Breckinridge  ;  Bell;  Floyd; 
Black;  Stanton ;  Stephens.  [§§  265,  266] —  (2)  Republican  conven- 
tion of  1860.  [§  265] —  (3)  Incidents  of  the  secession  of  one  of  the  first 
seven  seceding  states.  [§  266]  —  (4)  First  Confederate  Congress.  [§  266] 
—  (5)  Admission  of  one  of  the  following  states :  Minnesota ;  Oregon  ; 
Kansas.  [§  267]  —  (6)  Opinions  of  one  of  the  following  statesmen  on 
compromise:  Lincoln;  Davis;  Seward  ;  Greeley.  [§  269] — •  (7)  Star  of 
the  West  incident.  [§  270]  —  (8)  Public  services  of  one  of  the  following 
statesmen :  Crittenden ;  Cameron ;  Bates ;  Welles ;  Smith ;  Blair. 
[§  270]  —  (9)  Capture  of  Fort  Sumter.  [§  271]  —  (10)  Account  of  the 
secession  of  one  of  the  last  four  seceding  states.  [§  272]  —  (n)  War 
sentiment  in  the  South  in  1861.  [§  272]  —  (12)  Secession  sentiment  in 
one  of  the  four  loyal  border  states.  [§  272] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(13)  Why  did  the  Democratic  convention  split?  [§  265]  —  (14)  Why 
did  not  President  Buchanan  stop  secession?  [§  266]  —  (15)  Northern 
arguments  in  favor  of,  or  against,  secession.  [§  267]  —  (16)  Southern 
arguments  in  favor  of  secession.  [§267]  —  (17)  Union  men  in  the  South. 
[§  268]  —  (18)  Did  Fort  Sumter  belong  to  the  United  States  in  April, 
1861  ?  [§  271]  —  (19)  Effect  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  on  northern  senti- 
ment. [§  272] 


CHAPTER  XXV 


NORTH  AND   SOUTH  IN   1861 
274.   POPULATION  OF  THE-  Two  SECTIONS  (1861) 

THE  result  of  the  Civil  War  depended  on  the  relative  strength 
of  the  contestants,  measured  in  men,  resources,  business  or- 
ganization, and  moral  force.  In  population,  the  North,  which 
included  the  West  and  Northwest,  far  surpassed  its  rival. 

In  1790  the  North  and 
the  South  had  each 
2,000,000  people ;  in 
1830  the  numbers  were 
7,000,000  and  6,000,000 
respectively ;  but  in 
1860  the  free  states 
and  territories  counted 
19,000,000,  and  the 
.  slaveholding  •  states 
and  territories  12,000,- 
ooo.  There  were 
3,500,000  foreign-born 
persons  in  the  North, 
as  against  300,000  in 
the  seceding  states ; 
for  immigrants  disliked 
going  into  the  South 
where  there  were  few  cities  and  few  manufactures,  and  where 
manual  labor  was  despised. 

When  the  crisis  came,  four  of  the  slaveholding  states  stayed 
with  the  nineteen  free  states ;   these  were  Maryland,  Delaware, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  with  a  total  population  of  3,100,000. 
420 


A  LOG  HOUSE  IN  THE  BACKWOODS. 


Farming  and  Democracy  421 

Probably  500,000  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  states  adhered  to 
the  South  ;  but  West  Virginia  (not  yet  a  state)  and  eastern  Ten- 
nessee stood  by  the  Union  and  nearly  made  good  that  loss. 
The  total  population  of  the  region  controlled  by  secession  was 
therefore  about  8,900,000  as  against  22,100,000  for  the  area  sup- 
porting the  Union.  Out  of  the  8,900,000,  3,500,000  were  slaves 
and  140,000  free  negroes,  leaving  a  white  population  of  about 
5,300,000,  of  whom  about  1,300,000  were  white  men  between 
eighteen  and  sixty  years  old,  presumably  capable  of  military 
service.  The  twenty-three  states  that  adhered  to  the  Union 
contained  about  5,500,000  men  from  eighteen  to  sixty  years 
old,  of  whom  about  500,000  were  foreign-born. 

275.   FARMING  AND  DEMOCRACY 

For  the  support  of  an  army,  the  North  had  many  advantages. 
Much  more  land  was  under  cultivation  than  in  the  South ; 
and  farm  machinery,  fertilizers,  and  improved  methods  made 
farming  more  productive.  Hence,  as  far  west  as  southern 
Wisconsin,  much  of  the  country  was  as  thickly  settled  and 
prosperous  as  the  rural  parts  of  New  England.  It  was  a  period 
of  rising  prices  —  in  part  because  of  the  influx  of  gold  from 
California.  If  the  condition  of  the  wage  earners  at  any  time 
was  not  satisfactory  in  the  East,  it  was  possible  for  them  to 
take  up  land  in  the  West  and  make  a  living  there.  The  Bureau 
of  Agriculture,  established  at  Washington  in  1862,  showed 
how  much  the  government  appreciated  the  farmer. 

In  the  South,  plantations  of  hundreds  or  thousands  of  acres 
were  numerous,  but  the  South  did  not  raise  all  its  own  food, 
and  was  buying  corn  and  other  food  products  in  large  quantities 
from  the  Northwest.  The  staple  crop  was  cotton,  of  which  the 
South  exported  a  value  of  $191,000,000  in  1860.  Most  of  the 
profits  of  southern  farming  appear  to  have  gone  to  the  slave- 
holding  planters. 

The  rise  of  city  and  factory  populations  in  the  eastern  states 
developed  a  democracy  very  like  that  of  the  West.  The  manu- 


422 


North  and  South  in   1861 


facturers  and  heads  of  corporations,  many  of  whom  had  risen 
from  the  ranks  of  labor,  were  now  leaders  in  American  industry. 
The  South  supposed  that  this  was  a  timid  class,  which  would 
never  permit  a  war  for  fear  of  losing  its  profits,  and  that  work- 
men and  clerks  were  "mudsills,"  who  could  be  trodden  on,  but 
would  not  and  could  not  fight.  Yet  from  such  men  came  a 
great  part  of  the  victorious  northern  armies.  In  the  West  there 
was  a  genuine  and  wide-awake  democracy,  which  knew  no  such 

thing  as  family  prestige 
and  was  not  controlled  by 
the  commercial  class. 

In  the  South,  slaves  were 
almost  the  only  form  of 
great  wealth,  and  the 
300,000  slaveholding  fam- 
ilies were  as  much  a  gov- 
erning class  as  in  colonial 
times.  Out  of  those  fam- 
ilies came  also  nearly  all 
the  doctors,  lawyers,  and 
ministers  in  the  South. 
The  most  numerous  type  of 
the  southern  white  was  that 
of  the  "crackers,  "or  "poor 
whites,"  illiterate  and  un- 
progressive,  but  born  fight- 
ing men.  Most  of  them  believed  that  the  interest  of  slavery  was 
their  interest  also,  and  therefore  supported  the  planter  at  the  polls 
and  in  the  trenches.  Nevertheless,  the  mountain  whites  along 
the  west  slope  of  the  Appalachians  had  no  slaves,  hated  the  slave- 
holders, and  constantly  opposed  them  in  the  state  governments. 

276.   STATE  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT 

During  the  period  from   1840  to   1860  the  state  constitu- 
tions, both  North  and  South,  grew  more  and  more  democratic. 


A  MOUNTAIN  WHITE,  SPINNING.     (From 
'  a  Kentucky  photograph.) 


State  and  City  Government  423 

People  showed  a  striking  change  of  feeling  by  the  loss  of  con- 
fidence in  the  legislatures,  which  they  tried  to  tie  down  by 
amendments  to  the  state  constitutions.  Much  new  legislation 
was  required  to  meet  the  new  problems  of  business  and  social 
life.  In  the  South  the  states  legislated  less  for  social  welfare 
than  in  the  North ;  partly  from  long  habit,  partly  because  there 
was  no  class  of  free  mechanics  to  demand  such  legislation. 

Party  management  grew  more  and  more  elaborate,  especially 
in  the  populous  North ;  and  in  a  few  states  certain  political 
managers,  whom  we  should  call  bosses,  got  control  —  such  men 
as  Thurlow  Weed  of  New  York  and  Simon  Cameron  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Still  the  candidates  for  state  offices  were  usually 
nominated  in  conventions  where  the  result  was  not  arranged 
beforehand,  and  there  was  plenty  of  discussion  in  state  legis- 
latures. In  purity  of  politics  the  South  was  better  off  than  any 
other  part  of  the  country,  for  the  use  of  money  at  elections 
was  there  uncommon.  The  one  question  which  could  not  be 
discussed  there,  and  on  which  nobody  was  allowed  to  disagree 
with  his  neighbor,  was  slavery. 

The  census  of  1860  showed  158  cities  of  8000  or  more  people, 
which  together  contained  about  a  sixth  of  the  total  population. 
Of  these,  137  were  in  the  states  that  adhered  to  the  Union, 
and  21  within  the  later  southern  Confederacy.  New  Orleans, 
with  a  population  of  168,000,  lived  largely  on  down-river  trade 
from  the  Northwest;  the  largest  southern  city  that  was 
supported  wholly  by  southern  commerce  was  Charleston,  with 
41,000  people. 

In  the  North,  many  of  the  old  towns  expanded  into  crude, 
irregular,  and  ugly  cities,  and  nobody  seemed  to  foresee  how 
fast  they  would  increase.  The  cities  were  poorly  policed,  and 
riots  were  frequent.  Washington,  the  capital  city,  was  an 
unpaved  bog  in  time  of  rain,  in  which  ran  half-wild  hogs.  Most 
of  the  firemen  were  volunteers,  who  pumped  with  their  little 
hand  engines  while  the  fire  burned ;  but  some  of  the  large  cities 
were  using  steam  fire  engines.  In  the  large  cities  politics  were 


424  North  and  South  in  1861 

very  unsavory ;  New  York  and  San  Francisco  were  notorious 
for  their  corrupt  and  disorderly  governments,  and  for  fraud  and 
violence  at  elections. 

Nevertheless,  great  public  improvements  were  on  foot. 
Most  of  the  large  cities  now  had  public  water  supplies :  Phila- 
delphia began  a  system  of  city  waterworks  in  1801,  New  York 
built  its  Croton  aqueduct  in  1835-1842,  and  Boston  turned  on 
Cochituate  water  in  1845.  Parks  were  established.  In  1857 
New  York  laid  out  Central  Park,  the  first  great  municipal  pleas- 


BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK,  ABOTTT  1850. 

ure  ground  in  the  country.  Horse  cars  began  to  be  widely 
used  about  1845.  In  1857  the  city  of  New  York  organized  the 
first  "metropolitan  police"  of  uniformed  and  disciplined  men. 
The  western  cities  were  now  growing  fast :  Cincinnati,  St. 
Louis,  and  Chicago  were  still  rude  and  dirty,  but  had  popu- 
lations of  161,000,  161,000,  and  109,000  respectively.  Next  to 
them  in  importance  were  Louisville  (68,000),  Pittsburgh  (49,000), 
Detroit,  Milwaukee,  and  Cleveland  (each  about  45,000). 


Public  and  Private  Education  .  425 

277.   PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  EDUCATION 

For  public  education,  the  cities  developed  a  system  of  free 
graded  schools,  in  which  pupils  of  about  the  same  age  and 
experience  could  be  gathered  into  one  room;  and  (about  1850) 
they  began  to  appoint  trained  superintendents  to  direct  their 
schools.  The  country  district  schools  were  still  taught  by 
farmers'  sons  and  daughters,  who  often  had  no  other  training 
than  that  of  the  district  school  itself.  Still,  even  the  remote 
prairie  farmer  had  a  schoolhouse  near  at  hand  to  start  his  boys 
and  girls  in  education.  Some  of  the  northern  cities  had  public 
high  schools,  for  boys  and  girls;  in  a  few  places  there  were 
separate  girls'  high  schools  (§  207).  "Female  seminaries"  and 
other  large  boarding  schools  for  girls  were  numerous  but  not 
very  effective. 

The  colleges  were  still  small ;  none  of  them  counted  over 
530  undergraduate  students  in  1860.  College  athletics  made 
a  beginning  at  this  time,  with  the  boat  races  between  Harvard 
and  Yale.  The  sport  spread  to  other  eastern  colleges.  The 
animal  spirits  of  most  students  still  found  vent  in  all  sorts  of 
tricks  and  horseplay.  True  universities  were  now  appearing: 
some  of  the  older  colleges  added  departments  such  as  a  theo- 
logical school  here,  a  law  school  there,  a  school  of  mines  in  an- 
other place ;  and  the  new  western  state  universities  from  the 
beginning  included  schools  for  the  training  of  doctors,  lawyers, 
and  scientific  men.  In  1862  Congress  made  a  large  gift  of  land 
to  found  an  agricultural  college  in  each  state,  and  that  gave 
a  chance  for  a  new  kind  of  training.  The  University  of  Iowa 
took  the  bold  step  of  admitting  women  to  the  various  parts 
of  the  university  (1856),  an  example  later  followed  by  all  the 
western  state  universities. 

Southern  education  was  on  a  different  footing.  In  1860 
about  four  times  as  many  children  were  at  school  in  the  North 
as  in  the  South ;  but  the  slaves  and  free  negroes  had  no  form 
of  education,  and  the  country  poor  whites  had  little  or  none. 


426 


North  and  South  in   1861 


In  the  towns  the  public  schools  had  small  funds  and  few  trained 
teachers.  Secondary  schools  were  few:  the  most  successful 
were  military  academies,  the  best  known  of  which  were  the 
famous  "Citadel"  in  Charleston  and  the  Virginia  Military  In- 
stitute at  Lexington,  Virginia.  Little  colleges  abounded  in 
which  the  instruction  was  much  like  that  of  the  larger  colleges, 
and  the  University  of  Virginia  was  a  strong  institution. 

Some  of  the  well-to-do  families  sent  their  sons  to  southern 
state  or  denominational  colleges,  or  abroad,  or  to  northern 
colleges,  and  the  ruling  class  was  highly  educated  and  intellectual. 

278.   LITERATURE  AND  THE  CHURCHES 

The  year  1860  falls  about  in  the  middle  of  the  golden  age  of 
American  literature,  in  which  nourished  Whittier,  the  author 

of  pathetic  poems  about 
slavery  and  suffering ; 
Longfellow,  the  sunny- 
minded  and  graceful ; 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
the  wit  of  his  time ;  and 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson, 
whose  Essays,  full  of  deep 
thought  put  in  masterful 
English,  had  been  pub- 
lished almost  twenty  years 
earlier.  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne, perhaps  the  great- 
est of  all  American  writers, 
died  in  1864. 

The  North  American  Re- 
view was  the  oldest  review 
of  literature  and  politics ; 

De  Bow's  Review  was  an  excellent  southern  periodical  in 
questions  of  business,  trade,  and  politics.  Among  magazines 
in  a  lighter  vein  were  Harper's  Monthly,  started  in  1850,  and 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 


Literature  and  the  Churches 


427 


soon  after  made  an  illustrated  magazine;  and  the  Atlantic 
Mont  lily,  founded  in  November,  1857,  under  the  editor- 
ship of  James  Russell  Lowell.  Lowell  was  renowned  as 
a  poet,  essayist,  and  critic ;  but  he  will  always  be  best 
remembered  for  his  Biglow  Papers,  the  keenest  of  satires 
on  slavery. 

A  new  school  of  American  historians  was  at  the  height  of 
its  activity  in  1860;  to  George  Bancroft  and  William  H.  Pres- 
cott  were  added  John 
Lothrop  Motley  with  his 
Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
(1856).  Francis  Parkman, 
greatest  of  all  American 
historians,  about  1850  be- 
gan his  life  work  of  describ- 
ing "the  romance  of  the 
woods  " ;  that  is,  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Indians,  the 
French,  and  the  English  in 
the  New  World. 

The  fierce  contest  of  the 
Civil  War  developed  many 
political  humorists. 
Among  the  more  genial 
was  Artemus  Ward,  who 
invented  an  ingenious  mis- 
spelling which  did  not  hide 
the  humor  of  his  thought.  It  was  he  who  was  willing  "to  send 
all  his  wife's  male  relatives  to  the  war." 

In  this  active  intellectual  life  the  South  had  at  that  time 
little  part.  Aside  from  some  able  political  writers,  it  raised  no 
body  of  defenders  of  slavery  equal  to  opponents  like  Mrs. 
Stowe,  Whittier,  and  Lowell ;  and  no  essayists,  poets,  satirists, 
or  historians  who  affected  northern  public  opinion.  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  born  a  southerner,  was  one  of  America's  greatest 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE  IN  1849. 


428        North  and  South  in  1861 

writers ;  he  died  in  1849.  William  Gilmore  Simms  wrote  novels 
in  the  style  of  Walter  Scott  on  southern  themes,  but  they  were 
not  much  read  outside  of  the  South.  There  was  no  large 
southern  school  of  writers  who  appealed  to  the  whole  people 
of  the  section. 

With  the  passing  of  the  years,  the  great  national  churches 
grew  larger,  stronger,  and  wealthier.  The  Catholic  Church 
was  steadily  enlarged  by  the  immigration  of  Irish  and  German 
Catholics.  Though  the  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  and  Metho- 
dists were  split  by  the  slavery  question  (§  205)  the  factions 
flourished.  The  Congregational,  Unitarian,  Episcopalian,  and 
Catholic  churches  were  never  formally  divided  by  slavery. 
Theology  was  in  general  milder  than  in  1830,  and  there  was 
less  preaching  on  future  punishment,  and  more  on  present 
duty.  Benevolent  organizations  were  now  very  active :  Bible 
societies,  tract  societies,  foreign  missionary  societies,  educa- 
tion societies,  helped  to  raise  the  moral  standards  of  the 
people. 

The  South,  more  than  the  North,  made  its  churches  intel- 
lectual and  social  centers.  It  had  many  good  church  buildings, 
large  congregations,  and  eloquent  ministers,  perhaps  the  most 
renowned  of  whom  was  Bishop  William  Meade  of  Virginia. 
In  both  city  and  country  the  negroes  had  separate  churches, 
usually  with  a  minister  of  their  own  race ;  and  there  is  a  tra- 
dition that  one  such  church  bought  and  owned  its  minister. 

279.   INDUSTRIES 

People  were  learning  what  immense  resources  the  country 
possessed  in  other  products  than  those  of  the  farm.  Lum- 
ber was  still  very  cheap,  and  a  great  business  was  developed 
in  supplying  the  white  pine  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  to  the 
treeless  prairie  states.  Oil  always  floated  on  the  surface  of 
Oil  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Allegheny  River,  and  in  1859  it 
was  discovered  that,  by  putting  down  drill  holes  along  this 
creek,  a  porous  rock  containing  this  valuable  substance  could 


Industries  429 

be  tapped ;  and  new  methods  of  refining  this  petroleum  turned 
the  product  into  a  fluid  that  gave  a  beautiful  light. 

Mining  grew  to  be  a  great  industry,  and  many  states  pro- 
vided geological  surveys  of  their  territory  so  as  to  get  at  the 
minerals.  Many  discoveries  of  valuable  minerals  were  made 
after  1850.  Rich  copper  deposits  were  found  south  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  more  gold  in  California.  In  1858  gold  was  found 
near  Pikes  Peak,  and  the  city  of  Denver  quickly  sprang  up. 
In  1859  silver  was  discovered  in  great  abundance  at  Virginia 
City,  Nevada;  and  in  1861,  gold  in  Montana. 

The  South  was  equally  rich  in  stores  of  timber,  in  coal,  iron, 
oil,  and  the  natural  wealth  of  the  soil;  but  the  profits  of  in- 
dustry went  into  buying  slaves  and  raising  cotton,  and  there 
was  no  labor  adapted  to  manufacturing.  Hence,  in  the  whole 
seceding  South  the  only  coal  mines  worked  on  a  large  scale  were 
those  on  the  upper  James  in  Virginia. 

Like  progress  was  made  in  commercial  organization  (§  248). 
Corporations  of  every  kind  rapidly  increased,  though  all  were 
small  as  measured  by  the  standards  of  to-day.  In  1848  the 
first  clearing  house  was  organized  in  New  York  to  simplify  the 
banking  business.  Labor  also  began  to  organize  into  trades 
unions,  which  demanded  a  shorter  clay;  in  1840  the  United 
States  made  ten  hours  the  legal  day  for  its  employees.  Manu- 
factures developed  rapidly  because  of  cheap  fuel,  brought 
down  from  the  Pennsylvania  mines  to  the  Hudson  and  the 
Delaware,  so  that  it  could  be  distributed  all  along  the  seaboard, 
for  use  in  factories  and  houses.  In  the  West  the  bituminous 
coal  furnished  a  great  trade  down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburgh  to 
Cincinnati,  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  and  many  other  places.  Soon 
after  1860  Lake  Superior  iron  ore  began  to  come  down  the 
Lakes;  and  before  long  places  convenient  to  both  coal  and 
iron,  especially  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh,  became  great  iron- 
manufacturing  centers. 

In  this  development  also  the  South  had  but  a  small  share. 
The  only  very  large  iron  works  in   the  South  was  the  Trede- 
HART'S  NKW  AMF.R.  HIST.  —  27 


43°  North  and  South  in  1861 

gar  at  Richmond ;  there  was  only  one  other  large  southern  rail 
mill;  and  the  southern  water  powers  were  not  developed. 
Some  cotton  and  woolen  mills  were  built,  and  a  large  amount 
of  southern  capital  was  invested  in  banks,  which  gave  credit 
to  the  small  planter  and  the  farmer.  Of  the  imports  from 
abroad  one  tenth  came  to  the  South  in  1860,  and  nine  tenths 
to  the  North. 

280.   PROGRESS  OF  INVENTION 

The  progress  of  invention  in  the  previous  thirty  years  has 
already  been  described  (§  244).     This  progress  was  increasingly 
rapid  in  the  forties  and  fifties.     The  manufacture  of  cloth  was 
changed,  all  the  way  from  the  farm  to  the  wearer's  back,  by 
improvements  in  carding,  spinning,  weaving,  and  dyeing.     In 
1846  Elias  Howe  made  his  first  practicable  sewing  machine, 
clumsy  enough,  but  provided  with 
a  needle  with    the   eye    near    the 
point,  a  device  which  has  revolu- 
tionized  sewing.     In    1844    Good- 
year     discovered     a      means     of 
"vulcanizing"    rubber,    so    as    to 
make  it  up  into   shoes,   garments, 
and  hard  articles.     These  and  like 
inventions  came  into  use  slowly. 
.  The  French   inventor   Daguerre 
HOWE'S  FIRST  SEWING          in    1839    announced  a  method  of 
taking    self-recorded  sun    pictures 

called  daguerreotypes.  They  required  an  exposure  of  about 
twenty  minutes,  and  the  result  was  a  single  picture  on  a  silvered 
plate.  An  American,  Dr.  Draper,  at  once  discovered  that  the 
process  could  be  applied  to  portraits;  a  few  years  later  an 
Englishman  named  Archer  found  that  a  negative  could  be  fixed 
on  a  glass  plate,  from  which  any  number  of  prints  could  be 
made.  Thus  photography  sprang  into  being. 

The  greatest  new  discovery  in  methods  of  communication 


Progress  of  Invention 


THE  FIRST  TELEGRAPHIC  MESSAGE. 

of  intelligence  was  the  electric  telegraph,  first  discovered  in 
1835,  and  worked  out  and  applied  by  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  and 
Alfred  Vail  in  1844.  It  carried  the  news  of  the  nomination  of 
James  K.  Polk  (§  228)  from  Baltimore  to  Washington.  Tele- 
graph lines  rapidly  spread  through  the  country,  and  in  1851 
the  first  electric  fire  alarm  telegraph  was  set  up.  Machinery 
began  to  be  applied  to  many  new  purposes.  The  first  steam  fire 

engine  was  constructed 
about  1853.  In  1847 
Richard  Hoe  invented 
a  rotary  printing  press, 
run  at  great  speed  and 
delivering  a  continu- 
ous stream  of  news- 
papers. 

The  South  had  little 
use  for  these  in- 
ventions, for  factor- 
ies and  workshops 
were  few,  and  most 
manufactures  were  im- 
ported. Not  a  for- 
tieth part  of  the 
southern  cotton  was 
manufactured  in  the 
South.  Mowers  and 
reapers  were  of  no  use 


FIRST  PORTRAIT  MADE  BY  PHOTOGRAPHY. 
Daguerreotype  by  Dr.  Draper,  1839.) 


432  North  and  South  in  1861 

where  there  was  so  little  hay  or  grain.     The  only  widely  dis- 
tributed labor-saving  machine  was  the  cotton  gin  (§  125). 

281.  TRANSPORTATION 

Railroads  as  yet  profited  little  from  the  inventions  of  the 
period.  Nearly  all  the  American  railroads  were  single-tracked 
as  many  are  to-day;  the  trains  were  slow,  the  stations  small 
and  dirty,  the  locomotives  weak.  From  New  York  to  Chicago 
the  fastest  schedule  time  in  1860  was  thirty-eight  hours  — 
about  twice  the  time  now  required  for  the  fastest  trains.  The 
cars  were  small  and  comfortless,  but  sleeping  cars  had  been 
introduced  for  the  long  routes.  Railroad  accidents  were  fre- 
quent and  destructive.  Freight  rates  were  so  high  that  long 
distance  traffic  was  small ;  and  as  there  were  several  different 
gauges  in  use,  it  was  hard  to  make  through  shipments. 

The  South  fell  behind  the  North  in  transportation ;  the 
railroads  were  lighter  in  construction,  ran  less  regularly,  and 
charged  higher  fares.  The  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  were 
provided  with  light-draft  steamers,  but  the  South  built  very 
few  vessels,  and  the  seagoing  coasters  were  mostly  northern 
property. 

The  railroad  and  steamboat  quickened  the  carrying  of  the 
mails ;  and  several  reforms  were  made  in  the  postal  service. 
Official  adhesive  stamps  were  introduced  (1847)  >  the  postage 
was  reduced  to  five  cents  (1845),  and  then  to  three  cents  (1851). 
Unfortunately  neither  the  post  office  nor  the  railroad  under- 
took the  plain  duty  of  carrying  parcels.  In  1839  a  young  man 
named  Harnden  conceived  the  idea  of  carrying  packages  back 
and  forth,  between  Boston  and  New  York,  and  he  thus  began 
the  express  business  in  the  United  States.  The  Adams  Express 
Company  was  formed  in  1854.  In  the  fifties  Wells,  Fargo,  and 
Company  organized  an  express  system  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  and 
Butterfield  and  Company  introduced  a  "pony  express"  for 
letters  and  valuables,  which  covered  the  nineteen  hundred  miles 
from  St.  Joseph  on  the  Missouri  to  Sacramento  in  ten  days. 


Review  433 

282.  REVIEW 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  the  population  that  ad- 
hered to  the  Union  was  about  22,000,000  and  that  which  sup- 
ported the  Confederacy  about  9,000,000.  The  North  had  a 
greater  diversity  of  industry  and  trades.  The  northern  work- 
men and  business  men  turned  out  to  be  excellent  soldiers.  In 
the  South  the  chief  wealth  came  from  the  cultivation  of  cotton, 
and  went  to  a  small  number  of  slaveholding  families ;  but  they, 
and  also  the  so-called  "poor  whites, "  proved  to  be  good  fighters. 

The  North  abounded  in  cities,  some  of  which  were  badly 
governed,  but  they  were  supplied  with  uniformed  police  and 
with  water,  gas,  and  other  conveniences.  The  South  was  largely 
a  rural  country.  All  the  northern  states  had  free  public  schools, 
including  many  high  schools,  and  they  provided  for  the  educa- 
tion of  girls.  There  were  also  numerous  colleges.  The  South 
cultivated  an  intellectual  life,  but  had  fewer  schools  and  colleges. 
Most  of  the  literature  of  the  period  was  written  by  northerners, 
especially  Longfellow,  Holmes,  Emerson,  and  Lowell ;  but 
there  were  some  southern  writers,  of  whom  Poe  was  the  greatest. 

In  industry  the  North  led,  because  most  of  the  factories  and 
mines  were  in  northern  states,  the  South  not  yet  having  de- 
veloped its  natural  resources.  Invention  went  on  steadily  in 
the  North,  but  the  South  built  few  factories,  and  its  staple  crops 
could  not  be  aided  by  farm  machinery.  Both  sections  built 
railroads ;  but  the  North  showed  the  larger  mileage.  Most 
of  the  commercial  and  business  organization  of  the  country 
was  centered  in  the  North,  except  in  the  cotton  cities  of  New 
Orleans,  Savannah,  and  Charleston. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  436-437.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  297,  349.  —  Chad  wick,  Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  8,  20,  160.  — 
Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  211,  281.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  188, 
190,  191,  193,  196,  197.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  266. 

Secondary.     Chadwick,  Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  ch.    ii.  —  Coman, 


434  North  and  South  in 

Indust.  Hist.,  232-279.  —  Dodd,  Expansion,  chs.  x,  xi.  —  Hosmer, 
Appeal  to  Arms,  ch.  i.  —  McMaster,  U.S.,  VII.  99-134,  VIII.  68-132.  — 
Raymond,  Peter  Cooper,  52-95.  —  Rhodes,  U.S.,  III.  1-114.  —  Smith, 
Parties  and  Slavery,  chs.  v,  xix,  xx.  —  See  also  references  to  chs.  xix,  xxii. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  282-285,  29I~293, 
295-308,  404,  542-558.  — James,  Readings,  §§  74,  77,  83.  —  Olmsted, 
Seaboard  Slave  States.  —  Smedes,  Southern  Planter. 

Illustrative.  Baker,  The  New  Timothy.  —  Beecher,  Norwood 
(N.E.).  —  Cable,  Dr.  Sevier  (New  Orleans).  —  Gary,  Clover-nook  (Middle 
West).  —  Clemens,  Life  on  the  Mississippi;  Huckleberry  Finn..  — 
E.  Eggleston,  Mystery  of  Metro  polisville  (Minn.).  —  G.  C.  Eggleston, 
Irene  of  the  Mountains.  —  Gilmore,  Among  the  Pines.  —  Howells, 
A  Boy's  Town.  —  Moore,  Rachel  Stanwood  (South).  —  Morris,  Hist. 
Tales,  225-269  (telegraph).  —  Page,  In  Ole  Virginia.  —  Pryor,  Colonel's 
Story.  —  Roberts,  Down  the  0-hi-o.  — Sargent,  Peculiar  (slavery,  Mo.). 
—  Smith,  Fortunes  of  Oliver  Horn  (Md.  and  N.Y.).  —  White,  Blazed 
Trail;  Riverman  (northern  frontier).  —  See  also  references  to  ch.  xix. 

Pictures.      Leslie's  Weekly.  —  Harper's  Weekly.  — •  Mentor,  serial  no.  29. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 
(i)  Life  in  one  northern  city  during  the  Civil  War.  [§  276]  —  (2)  Life 
in  one  southern  city  during  the  Civil  War.  [§  276]  —  (3)  Public  high 
schools  in  New  England,  or  in  the  West,  in  1861.  [§  277]  —  (4)  A  day  in 
a  district  school  about  1861.  [§  277]  —  (5)  Literary  career  of  one  of  the 
following  writers:  Holmes;  Emerson;  Hawthorne;  Motley;  Park- 
man;  Simms;  Artemus  Ward.  [§  278]  —  (6)  Coal  trade  down  the 
Ohio  River.  [§  279]  —  (7)  Career  of  one  of  the  following  inventors: 
McCormick ;  Elias  Howe ;  Goodyear ;  Draper ;  Morse ;  Vail ;  Hoe. 
[§  280]  —  (8)  Railroad  travel  in  the  North,  or  in  the  South,  .about  1861. 
[§  281]  —  (9)  Steam  travel  on  the  Great  Lakes,  or  on  the  Mississippi, 
about  1861.  [§  281]  —  (10)  Beginnings  of  the  express  business.  [§  281] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Why  did  so  few  immigrants  go  into  the  South?  [§  274]  —  (12)  Con- 
ditions of  the  mountain  whites  about  1861.  [§  275]  —  (13)  Agricultural 
college  land  grants.  [§  277]  —  (14)  Account  of  the  character  and  in- 
fluence of  one  of  the  leading  newspapers,  or  weeklies,  or  monthly  maga- 
zines, or  reviews  of  the  Civil  War  period.  [§  278]  —  (15)  Influence  on 
the  community  of  one  of  the  following  clergymen:  Beecher;  Hughes; 
Finney;  Meade;  Storrs.  [§  278]  —  (16)  Account  of  mining  of  copper, 
or  gold,  or  silver,  or  coal,  or  iron  ore.  [§  279] 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  MILITARY   SIDE  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR   (1861-1865) 
283.   WHAT  KIND  OF  WAR  WAS  IT? 

THE  Civil  War  practically  began  April  12,  1861,  when  the 
Confederates  fired  on  Fort  Sumter.  The  official  Confederate 
point  of  view  was  that  the  North  was  trying  to  conquer  the 
South.  The  northern  point  of  view  was  that  the  southerners 
were  in  rebellion  against  their  lawful  government  and  could 
not  excuse  themselves  by  any  theory  of  "sovereign  states," 
or  a  "Confederacy";  that  the  states  were  still  in  the  Union, 
and  hence  every  individual  was  liable  to  execution  for  treason, 
if  he  made  armed  resistance  against  the  authority  of  the  federal 
government. 

In  practice  it  was  impossible  to  treat  Confederates  in  uniform, 
acting  under  orders  of  their  superiors,  as  anything  but  soldiers ; 
if  captured,  they  were  prisoners  of  war.  By  a  proclamation  of 
April  19,  1 86 1,  for  the  blockade  of  the  southern  ports,  President 
Lincoln  virtually  admitted  that  there  was  a  government  on  the 
other  side,  carrying  on  civilized  war. 

What  was  the  place  of  slavery  in  the  contest?  The  national 
House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate  separately  voted 
(July  22,  25,  1861) :  "That  this  war  is  not  waged  upon  our  part 
in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  or  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or 
subjection,  or  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the 
rights  or  established  institutions  of  those  States,  but  to  defend 
and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  to  preserve 
the  Union  with  all  the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the 
435 


436, 


;;;     "r          CIVIL  WAR 


Gi-efii«  idi          80 


.    437 


438         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

several  States  unimpaired."  The  war  was  called  "the  War 
between  the  States"  by  the  South,  and  "the  Rebellion"  by 
the  North.  In  fact,  it  was  neither;  it  was  a  genuine  Civil 
War  carried  on  between  two  parts  of  the  same  nation,  two 
sections  of  the  same  people. 

284.  THE  FIELD  or  WAR 

The  only  way  to  break  up  the  Confederacy  and  to  bring  the 
states  back  into  the  Union,  was  to  invade  the  South,  a  region 
naturally  very  strong.  Now  an  invading  army  is  like  a  ser- 
pent which  can  strike  only  with  its  head,  and  as  it  moves  for- 
ward leaves  the  length  of  its  body  exposed.  Such  an  army  must 
follow  some  kind  of  highway  over  which  supplies  and  reenforce- 
ments  may  be  sent  up  to  the  front;  hence  the  rough  and  im- 
passable Appalachian  Mountains  covered  the  middle  of  the 
Confederate  lines  and  seemed  a  sure  protection.  Most  of  the 
fighting  was  in  the  extreme  east  and  in  the  west.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  the  Confederate  military  frontier  ran  south  of 
Fort  Monroe  on  the  James,  then  followed  a  little  to  the  south  of 
the  Potomac  River,  and  through  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia 
and  Kentucky ;  it  ran  to  the  two  Confederate  forts  of  Donelson 
and  Henry,  on  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  rivers ;  it  touched 
the  Ohio  at  Paducah,  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  Belmont,  and 
then  passed  about  midway  through  Missouri. 

That  strong  line  of  defense  was  weakened  by  four  routes 
into  the  interior  of  the  Confederacy,  and  along  them  were 
fought  most  of  the  campaigns  of  the  Civil  War:  (i)  the  lower 
Mississippi  River,  which  was  deep  enough  to  admit  ships  from 
the  sea ;  (2)  the  middle  Mississippi,  a  great  national  waterway, 
abounding  in  steamers;  (3)  the  line  of  railroad  from  Louis- 
ville to  Nashville,  and  thence  across  the  mountains  to  Chat- 
tanooga and  Atlanta ;  (4)  a  strip  of  territory  lying  east  of  the 
mountains  in  Virginia,  which  was  traversed  by  several  railroads 
leading  south  from  Washington. 


The  Two  Navies  439 

285.  THE  Two  ARMIES 

To  fight  its  battles,  the  South  had  a  population  accustomed 
to  outdoor  life,  to  the  use  of  firearms,  and  to  the  management 
of  horses ;  and  it  had  also  commanders  trained  in  the  national 
military  school  of  West  Point  and  in  the  wars  of  the  Union. 
Since  the  negroes  did  the  hard  work  at  home,  nearly  all 
the  able-bodied  white  men  could  be  enlisted.  According  to 
Colonel  T.  S.  Livermore,  the  authority  on  this  question,  over 
1,230,000  different  men  were  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army 
and  they  rendered  3,240,000  years  of  military  service. 

Though  the  North  was  not  considered  to  be  a  military  people, 
the  first  call  for  militia  brought  out  92,000  "citizen  soldiers"; 
and  during  1861,  660,000  men  were  enlisted  for  three  years. 
At  first  volunteers  continued  to  pour  in,  but  in  1863  this  im- 
pulse lost  strength  and  a  draft  was  ordered,  which,  however, 
produced  only  36,000  men.  In  the  course  of  the  whole  war 
about  2,500,000  adult  men  were  in  the  military  service  of  the 
Union,  of  whom  about  400,000  reenlisted  at  least  once.  The 
total  year's  services  were  about  4,670,000,  which  made  the 
actual  fighting  force  one  half  greater  than  the  Confederate 
force.  To  raise,  organize,  and  supply  such  enormous  forces 
required  a  great  man  as  Secretary  of  War.  In  January,  1862, 
Lincoln  practically  removed  Simon  Cameron  from  that  de- 
partment, and  appointed  instead  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  chosen 
for  his  loyalty  to  the  Union,  his  rugged  honesty,  and  his  great 
ability,  although  he  had  the  worst  of  tempers  and  would  oc- 
casionally defy  the  President. 

286.  THE  Two  NAVIES 

The  regular  navy  was  at  first  disorganized,  because  more 
than  a  third  of  the  officers  resigned  to  join  the  Confederacy, 
and  all  the  navy  yards  in  the  southern  states  were  seized  by  the 
Confederacy,  with  the  vessels  that  happened  to  be  in  port. 
Of  the  Union  navy,  only  seven  steamers  and  five  wooden  cruisers 


44°         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

were  available  when  the  war  began.  The  President's  procla- 
mation of  a  "blockade"  (§  283)  was  a  notice  to  foreign  ships 
that  squadrons  would  be  placed  outside  all  the  southern  ports, 
to  capture  vessels  going  in  or  running  out.  Thus,  began  the 
celebrated  "anaconda  policy"  of  pressing  on  the  Confederacy 
from  all  sides  at  once.  To  form  the  necessary  blockading  squad- 
rons, merchant  vessels,  both  sail  and  steam,  were  hastily  bought 
and  equipped,  naval  volunteers  were  enrolled,  and  in  a  few 
months  squadrons  were  actually  blockading  the  coast  and 
making  frequent  captures. 

To  evade  the  fleet,  small  and  very  swift  steam  "blockade 
runners"  were  built  abroad,  to  run  from  the  near-by  Bahama 
and  Bermuda  islands  to  Confederate  ports,  carrying  in  mili- 
tary stores  and  miscellaneous  cargoes,  and  carrying  out  cot- 
ton, compressed  into  small  bulk.  Many  of  these  vessels  were 
captured,  but  their  profits  were  so  great  that  two  successful 
trips  would  pay  for  a  vessel.  As  the  war  advanced,  the  block- 
ade grew  more  and  more  effective;  in  all  about  1500  captures 
were  made  by  the  Union  fleet,  and  the  trade  of  the  South  with 
the  rest  of  the  world  was  nearly  throttled. 

The  Confederate  authorities  made  every  possible  effort  to 
build  a  navy.  They  did  construct  several  fleets  for  harbor  de- 
fense, but  their  only  seagoing  ships  were  the  "commerce  de- 
stroyers." The  South  at  once  began  to  issue  commissions  to 
private  ships  to  capture  Union  merchantmen,  and  also  sent  out 
cruisers,  or  public  armed  ships.  At  first  the  United  States  tried 
to  make  out  that  the  crews  of  such  vessels  were  pirates,  and 
several  of  these  men  were  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death ; 
but  President  Davis  threatened  to  execute  an  equal  number  of 
Union  soldiers  held  as  prisoners,  and  the  United  States  finally 
decided  to  treat  them  as  prisoners  of  war. 

Several  vessels  were  also  fitted  out  as  Confederate  ships  of 
war  in  British  ports;  of  these  the  principal  one  was  the  Ala- 
bama, which  was  built  at  Liverpool  for  the  Confederacy.  Al- 
though Minister  Adams  steadily  protested,  she  slipped  away  to 


Campaigns  of  1861  441 

sea  (July,  1862),  her  crew  and  guns  coming  out  to  her  on  an- 
other ship.  The  Alabama  and  other  Confederate  ships,  fol- 
lowing the  precedents  of  the  Revolution  and  War  of  1812 
(§§  93>  I71)>  found  a  rich  prey  in  the  Union  merchant  ships,  of 
which  the  total  number  captured  was  260,  valued  at  $20,000,000. 
Gradually  the  United  States  navy  hunted  out  and  blockaded, 
took,  or  sank  all  these  vessels  except  the  Sheiiatidoah,  which  was 
still  at  work  when  the  war  ended.  Claims  were  at  once  filed 
against  Great  Britain  for  these  losses. 

287.   CAMPAIGNS  OF  1861 

As  in  previous  wars,  the  military  events  were  important, 
not  for  themselves,  but  because  they  decided  the  issue  of  the 
war  —  whether  the  northern  or  the  southern  way  of  thinking 
should  prevail.  And  campaigns  and  battles  are  less  important 
than  the  character  and  action  of  the  leading  soldiers.  Never- 
theless, it  is  necessary  to  know  something  about  the  main  military 
events,  because  they  prepared  the  way  for  acts  of  Congress  and 
proclamations  and  the  great  social  and  economic  changes  brought 
about  by  the  Civil  War. 

The  first  significant  battle  was  fought  at  Bull  Run.  A  few 
weeks  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  Washington  was  strongly 
fortified  because  it  was  in  danger  of  surprise  by  a  Confederate 
force  under  General  Beauregard  which  was  lying  at  Manassas 
Junction,  only  thirty  miles  away.  The  country  loudly  called 
for  somebody  to  break  up  that  army.  Against  the  judgment 
of  the  military  men,  a  force  of  30,000  Union  troops,  under 
General  McDowell,  attacked  the  line  at  Bull  Run  (July  21, 1861), 
not  knowing  that  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  bringing  more  men 
from  the  Shenandoah  valley,  the  first  time  in  history  that  sol- 
diers were  carried  into  battle  by  railroad. 

In  the  midst  of  the  battle,  a  Confederate  officer  cried  to  his 
men,  "There  are  Jackson  and  his  Virginians  standing  like  a 
stone  wall!"  and  as  "Stonewall"  Jackson  that  general  has  gone 
down  in  history.  Nevertheless  the  Confederate  army  was 


442         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

weakening  when  fresh  troops  arrived  and  broke  the  Union  lines. 
Says  an  eyewitness,  "For  three  miles  hosts  of  Federal  troops,  all 
detached  from  their  regiments,  all  mingled  in  one  disorderly 

rout,    were    fleeing    along 
the  road." 

The  North  profited  by 
Bull  Run  more  than  the 
South,  for  it  was  forced 
to  realize  the  task  before 
it.  President  Lincoln  held 
his  courage,  and  within 
three  days  was  making 
preparation  for  new  cam- 
paigns in  both  East  and 
West.  General  George  B. 
McClellan  was  at  once  put 
in  command  of  the  army 
in  front  of  Washington, 
and  in  November  became 

commander  of  all  the  armies  of  the  United  States.  He  devoted 
himself  to  organizing  an  "Army  of  the  Potomac."  Day  after 
day,  week  after  week,  the  only  news  from  that  part  of  the  front 
was  the  stereotyped  telegram,  "All  quiet  on  the  Potomac." 

288.   WESTERN  CAMPAIGNS  OF  1862 

In  the  West,  the  two  contestants  lined  up  across  central  Ken- 
tucky and  Missouri.  Early  in  1862,  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  who 
had  shown  his  ability  in  a  little  expedition  down  the  Mississippi 
to  Belmont,  moved  forward  in  conjunction  with  Flag  Officer 
Foote.  Together  they  accomplished  the  first  great  Union  vic- 
tory by  capturing  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  with  14,500  men 
(February,  1862).  The  Confederates  thereupon  abandoned  Ken- 
tucky, and  Nashville,  the  capital  of  Tennessee,  fell  to  the  Union 
forces  without  a  blow.  A  provisional  state  government  was  set 
up  for  Tennessee,  with  Andrew  Johnson  as  governor. 


Naval  Warfare  of  1862  443 

Farther  west  the  Confederates  retreated  down  the  Missis- 
sippi to  a  strong  position  called  Island  No.  10,  which,  however, 
was  captured  in  April.  The  Confederate  army  west  of  the 
Mississippi  had  just  been  broken  up  at  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge. 
The  result  of  three  months'  campaigning  was,  therefore,  the 
gain  by  the  Federals  of  a  strip  of  territory  a  hundred  miles 
wide  and  more  than  five  hundred  miles  long. 

General  Halleck  was  put  in  general  command  and  sent  Grant's 
army  up  the  Tennessee  River,  and  he  ordered  Buell  to  unite  his 
forces  with  Grant's.  Before  Buell  could  get  up,  General 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  with  40,000  Confederates  suddenly 
attacked  Grant's  army  of  43,000  (April  6)  at  Shiloh,  near 
Pittsburg  Landing.  The  Union  troops,  surprised  and  as  yet 
little  experienced  in  fighting  in  line,  were  driven  back  almost 
to  the  river.  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  one  of  the  division  com- 
manders, fought  gallantly.  The  Confederates  were  startled 
by  the  death  of  Johnston,  killed  on  the  field.  Next  morning 
Buell's  army  of  20,000  arrived  to  reenforce  Grant,  the  tables 
were  turned,  and  the  Confederates  were  driven  from  the  field. 

Halleck,  taking  personal  command,  moved  southward  and 
captured  Corinth,  Mississippi  (May  30),  which  commanded 
the  railroads  east  from  Memphis,  and  thus  gave  to  the  Union 
forces  control  of  the  Mississippi  River  as  far  south  as  the 
strongly  fortified  town  of  Vicksburg.  The  career  of  victory  was 
interrupted  by  a  Confederate  invasion  of  Kentucky  under 
General  Bragg,  who  started  for  Louisville.  The  Union  army 
under  Buell  met  Bragg  at  Perryville  (October  8)  and  after  a 
hot  fight  the  Confederates  withdrew.  General  Rosecrans,  then 
appointed  to  the  Union  command,  attacked  Bragg  in  the  bloody 
battle  of  Stone  River  or  Murfreesboro  (December  31,  1862, 
January  2,  1863),  and  compelled  him  to  retire. 

289.   NAVAL  WARFARE  OF  1862 

Meanwhile,  in  the  spring  of  1862,  Flag  Officer  David  G.  Far- 
ragut  was  sent  out  with  a  fleet  to  force  an  entrance  into  the 


444         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

lower  Mississippi.  Farragut  was  born  in  1801,  of  Scotch  de- 
scent, entered  the  navy  when  ten  years  old,  and  served  as  a 
midshipman  in  the  War  of  1812.  Though  he  lived  in  Virginia, 
he  stood  by  the  old  flag  in  the  Civil  War.  After  entering 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  he  signaled  for  close  action, 
"conquer  or  be  conquered."  He  boldly  led  his  fleet  up  the 
river  (April  24),  which  was  defended  by  strong  forts.  A  fire- 
ship  came  down  against  his  flagship  Hartford,  but  half  the 
sailors  kept  up  the  fight,  while  the  other  half  put  out  the  fire. 
At  the  end  of  the  fight  a  boom 
across  the  river  was  destroyed,  the 
vessels  were  beyond  the  forts,  and 
there  was  nothing  to  stop  them. 
They  shortly  anchored  in  front  of 
the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  the 
forts  soon  surrendered.  A  large 
force  of  Union  troops  soon  after 
took  possession  of  New  Orleans, 
under  command  of  General  B.  F. 
Butler,  who  for  a  year  ruled  the 
city  like  a  conquered  province. 

By  March,  1862,  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  had  grown  to  185,000 
men,  eager  to  move  "on  to  Rich- 
mond." After  many  delays, 
McClellan  marched  up  the  peninsula  between  the  James  and 
York  rivers.  The  Confederates  at  Norfolk  were  rebuilding 
the  former  United  States  frigate  Merrimac  into  a  powerful 
ironclad  called  the  Virginia;  and  to  meet  this  danger  the 
new  iron  ship  Monitor  was  sent  down  from  New  York.  This 
craft  was  the  invention  of  John  Ericsson,  a  little  "cheese-box 
on  a  raft,"  with  a  revolving  iron  turret  carrying  two  heavy 
guns,  mounted  on  a  deck  almost  flush  with  the  water.  She 
was  built  in  one  hundred  days,  and  none  too  soon. 

The    Merrimac   unexpectedly   came   out   (March   8,    1862), 


JOHN  ERICSSON.     (Inventor  of 
the  Monitor.) 


Campaigns  in  Virginia  in  1862  445 

steamed  slowly  but  steadily  to  the  Union  fleet  in  Hampton 
Roads,  and  destroyed  the  wooden  sloop  of  war  Cumberland  and 
the  frigate  Congress.  Next  morning  the  Merrimac  appeared 
again,  but  found,  in  front  of  the  rest  of  her  prey,  the  little 
Monitor,  which  had  arrived  during  the  night.  For  five  hours 
the  two  ships  pounded  each  other ;  neither  could  destroy  her 
adversary,  but  the  Merrimac  finally  retired.  One  of  the  great- 
est dangers  of  the  whole  war  was  safely  passed,  for  not  another 
vessel  in  the  world  could  have  coped  with  the  Confederate  ship. 
She  never  made  another  attack,  and  later  was  scuttled  and 
burned  by  her  own  crew,  to  prevent  her  capture  by  Union  forces. 

290.   CAMPAIGNS  IN  VIRGINIA  IN  1862 

When  McClellan  was  at  last  ready  to  attack  (April,  1862), 
to  his  deep  disappointment  the  President  detached  McDowell 
with  40,000  troops  to  cover  Washington.  McClellan's  army 
wasted  about  a  month  in  the  scientific  siege  of  Yorktown,  which 
was  defended  in  part  with  "Quaker  guns,"  made  of  painted  logs 
of  wood.  By  May  31,  he  reached  a  point  only  seven  miles  from 
Richmond.  The  official  returns  later  showed  that  McClellan 
had  about  115,000  present  for  duty  against  about  90,000  in 
the  Confederate  army,  which  was  commanded  by  Joseph  E. 
Johnston.  McClellan  was  checked  at  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines 
or  Fair  Oaks,  when  Johnston  was  wounded,  and  next  day  Robert 
E.  Lee  took  command  of  the  Confederate  army.  Meanwhile 
Stonewall  Jackson,  in  a  brilliant  campaign  in  the  Shenandoah 
valley,  threatened  Washington  and  kept  McDowell's  corps  from 
reaching  McClellan.  Jackson  thereupon  suddenly  joined  Lee ; 
so  that  McClellan  found  himself  attacked.  Then  followed  the 
terrible  "seven  days'  fighting,"  in  which  McClellan  was  forced 
to  give  way  and  retreat  (June  26  to  July  i)  to  the  James  River, 
ending  at  Malvern  Hill. 

In  thirty-one  days  McClellan  had  lost  over  21,000  men  and 
the  enemy  about  27,000;  but  they  had  saved  their  capital  and 
the  Confederacy  for  the  time.  In  the  sting  of  defeat  McClel- 


446         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

Ian  telegraphed  to  Secretary  Stanton :  "  I  have  lost  this  battle 
because  my  force  was  too  small.  ...  If  I  save  this  army 
now,  I  tell  you  plainly  that  I  owe  no  thanks  to  you  or  to  any 
other  persons  in  Washington.  You  have  done  your  best  to 
sacrifice  this  army. "  McClellan  was  a  brave  man  and  a  natural 
leader,  always  heartily  trusted  and  loyally  obeyed  by  his  subor- 
dinates, and  he  knew  how  to  handle  troops ;  but  he  was  misled 

by  his  secret- 
service  agents, 
who  reported 
that  the  Con- 
federate army 
was  much  larger 
than  his  own; 
he  was  never 
willing  to  at- 
tack unless  he 
was  sure  that  he 
would  win;  and 
he  was  exceed- 
ingly unjust  to 
Stanton  and 
Lincoln. 

Lincoln  (July 
1862)  called 
for  300,000 
more  men;  and 

420,000  soon  responded.  McClellan  had  lost  the  confidence  of 
the  administration,  and  General  Halleck  became  the  confidential 
adviser  to  the  President.  During  the  next  six  months,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  fought  three  more  unsuccessful  battles  with  Lee's 
army: 

(i)  General  Pope  received  command  of  most  of  the  eastern 
army.  He  was  little  known  to  his  subordinates,  few  of  whom 
liked  or  trusted  him.  Pope  was  attacked  by  Stonewall  Jack- 


THE  WAR  IN  VIRGINIA. 


Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  447 

son's  "foot  cavalry"  and  fought  three  days  near  the  old  battle- 
field of  Bull  Run  (August  28-30).  He  was  so  badly  defeated 
that  the  army  was  withdrawn  to  the  neighborhood  of  Washing- 
ton. 

(2)  Lee  saw  the  first  chance  to  carry  the  war  into  the  North, 
and  crossed  the  Potomac.     McClellan  was  again  put  in  active 
command  and  attacked  Lee  on  the  Antietam  near  Sharpsburg, 
Maryland  (September   17).     This  was   the   best   opportunity 
of  the  war  for  destroying  Lee's  army;    but   after   a   day   of 
terrible   fighting,    and   another    day's  delay,  Lee's  army  was 
allowed  to  withdraw  across  the  Potomac  unmolested. 

(3)  McClellan  was  soon  removed,  and  General  Burnside  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him.     Burnside  marched  to  the  Rappa- 
hannock  River,  beyond  which  Lee  with  80,000  men  intrenched 
himself.      The  Union  army  of   113,000   men   attacked   Lee's 
intrenchments  in  front  near  Fredericksburg  (December  13,  1862) 
and  was  defeated  in  one  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  the  war, 
with  a  heavy  loss  and  without  the  slightest  military  advantage. 

291.   VICKSBURG  AND  GETTYSBURG  (1863) 

The  year  1863  began  with  918,000  men  under  arms  on  the 
Union  side  and  466,000  on  the  southern.  The  campaign  opened 
in  the  West,  where  General  Grant  tried  various  schemes  of 
opening  a  communication  through  shallow  bayous  around 
Vicksburg.  Finally  he  marched  seventy  miles  down  the  back 
country  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  crossed  the  Mississippi 
south  of  Vicksburg,  and  then  pushed  northeast,  defeated  his 
enemy  right  and  left,  and  closed  in  on  Vicksburg  from  the  east. 
Thus  by  boxing  the  compass  south,  east,  north,  and  west,  Grant 
cut  Vicksburg  off  from  all  help. 

After  vain  attempts  to  take  the  place  by  assault,  Grant 
regularly  invested  the  city  and  bombarded  it.  As  the  seven 
weeks  of  siege  progressed,  the  inhabitants  came  down  to  pea  meal 
mixed  with  cornmeal,  of  which  they  made  a  sort  of  bread.  The 
streets  were  full  of  debris,  wounded  men,  and  houseless  people. 


448         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

The  inhabitants  moved  to  caves  in  the  bluffs,  dug  out  bomb- 
proofs,  and  lived  there  day  and  night.  July  4,  1863,  Vicks- 
burg  surrendered  unconditionally  with  29,000  men,  the  largest 
number  of  prisoners  taken  by  either  side  during  the  entire  war. 
A  week  later  a  freight  steamer  from  St.  Louis  arrived  in  New 
Orleans,  and  President  Lincoln  said,  "The  Father  of  Waters 
again  goes  un vexed  to  the  sea." 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  fought  as  bravely  as  the  western 
armies,  but  with  smaller  success.  General  Joseph  Hooker 

was  put  in  command  (January 
25)  and  assembled  his  army  at 
Chancellorsville,  where  it  was 
confronted  by  Lee's  much 
smaller  force  and  suddenly 
thrown  backinconfusion  (May 
2) .  Jackson  was  accidentally 
shot  by  his  own  men  —  a  ter- 
rible blow  to  the  South  —  but 
Hooker  was  badly  beaten. 

Lee  now  had  his  greatest  op- 
portunity  during   the  whole 
war.  He  crossed  the  Potomac, 
BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG.  and     reached     southeastern 

Pennsylvania.  At  this  critical  moment  the  command  of  the 
Union  army  was  transferred  from  Hooker  to  General  Meade. 
The  two  armies  came  together  near  Gettysburg  and  for  three 
days  (July  1-3)  fought  the  greatest  battle  of  the  Civil  War. 
The  Union  army  took  its  stand  on  a  crescent-shaped  hill, 
ending  with  the  strong  position  of  Round  Top. 

At  one  o'clock  on  the  third  day,  the  Confederates  opened 
fire  against  the  ridge ;  at  the  end  of  two  hours,  a  division  of 
15,000  men,  under  command  of  Pickett,  burst  into  the  open  and 
came  surging  up  the  slope  into  the  Union  lines  on  Cemetery 
Ridge.  This  was  the  so-called  "High  Tide  of  the  Confed- 
eracy," -the  most  critical  moment  of  the  war.  A  few  of  the 


Chickamauga  and  Chattanooga  449 

assailants  got  over  the  breastworks ;  and  could  they  have  held 
their  ground,  the  Union  army  must  have  broken  in  disorder,  and 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  or  Washington  might  have  been  the 
prize  of  Lee's  army.  But  the  Union  lines  held  steady,  the 
remnants  of  Pickett's  division  fell  back,  and  Lee  was  defeated. 
Of  the  88,000  Union  troops  engaged,  more  than  one  man  in 
four  went  down,  killed  or  wounded.  The  Confederate  army 
of  75,000  men  lost  23,000,  or  almost  a  third  of  its  number. 
On  the  night  of  the  next  day  Lee  slowly  retreated,  and  the 
Union  army  let  him  cross  the  Potomac ;  it  was  the  last  chance 
to  invade  the  North  in  large  force. 

292.  CHICKAMAUGA  AND  CHATTANOOGA  (1863) 

Two  more  terrible  battles  were  fought  in  the  West  before  the 
year  1863  ended.  To  Rosecrans,  with  the  Army  of  the  Cum- 
berland, was  assigned  the  task  of  advancing  to  Chattanooga 
while  Burnside  moved  up  from  Kentucky  to  Knoxville,  to  give 
support  to  the  large  population  of  Union  men  in  East  Tennessee. 
Bragg  attacked  Rosecrans  on  the  Chickamauga  (September  19, 
1863)  with  a  heavy  force.  The  next  day  the  attack  was  re- 
newed, and  the  Union  line  was  broken,  but  the  army  of 
Thomas  stood  its  ground.  Two  days  later  the  whole  army 
returned  to  Chattanooga. 

No  soldier  on  either  side  was  more  passionately  admired  than 
General  George  H.  Thomas.  After  graduation  at  West  Point 
in  1840,  he  served  in  the  Mexican  War.  He  was  sent  to  Ken- 
tucky, beat  Zollicoffer  in  1861,  and  served  as  an  excellent  sub- 
ordinate to  Buell  and  Rosecrans.  Thomas  was  a  quiet,  reserved 
man,  shy  and  proud ;  but  he  had  a  wonderful  gift  of  inspiring 
his  men  with  confidence  and  devotion,  and  he  was  commonly 
called  "Pap  Thomas"  by  his  troops. 

Thomas's  great  national  reputation  was  gained  at  Chicka- 
mauga. General  Garfield.said,  "I  shall  never  forget  my  amaze- 
ment and  admiration  when  I  beheld  that  grand  officer  holding 
his  own  with  utter  defeat  on  each  side,  and  such  wild  disorder 
HART'S  NEW  AMFR.  HIST — 28 


450         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

in  his  rear."  From  that  unflinching  courage  Thomas  got  the 
name  which  he  carried  the  rest  of  his  life,  "the  Rock  of  Chicka- 
mauga." 

Rosecrans  was  now  penned  up  in  Chattanooga  by  the  Con- 
federates under  Bragg,  who  occupied  the  neighboring  heights 
of  Missionary  Ridge  and  Lookout  Mountain.  River  communi- 
cation by  the  Tennessee  was  closed  by  the  enemy,  and  soon  the 


var-time  lithograph  by  Forbes.) 


army  was  almost  starving.  Grant  was  now  placed  in  command 
of  the  combined  forces  of  Sherman  and  Thomas,  who  super- 
seded Rosecrans,  and  at  once  began  to  extricate  the  army. 

In  three  successive  days  (November  23-25)  the  Confederate 
army  was  driven  out  of  its  strong  positions  above  Chattanooga. 
First,  Thomas  took  the  works  at  the  foot  of  Missionary  Ridge. 
Next  day  Sherman  attacked  the  north  end  of  Missionary  Ridge, 
and  took  position  on  the  enemy's  flank ;  and  in  the  dramatic 
"Battle  above  the  Clouds,"  Hooker  drove.  Bragg's  troops  off 
Lookout  Mountain.  On  the  third  day  Thomas's  army  at- 


Grant's  Campaign  of  1864  451 

tacked  the  Confederates  at  the  foot  of  Missionary  Ridge. 
Without  orders  the  troops  went  on  up  the  hill,  and  in  an  hour 
cleared  that  mountain  of  enemies.  There  is  no  more  stirring 
incident  in  the  annals  of  war  than  the  lines  of  bluecoats,  in  sight 
of  thousands  of  their  fellows,  dashing  up  the  slope,  capturing 
batteries,  guns,  and  men,  and  raising  the  stars  and  stripes  on 
the  summit.  Bragg  retreated  in  great  confusion. 

293.   GRANT'S  CAMPAIGN  OF  1864 

For  the  eastern  campaign  of  1864,  Lincoln  selected  Grant, 
who  had  made  the  most  brilliant  record  in  the  West.  He  was 
made  lieutenant-general  with  the  authority  of  general  in  chief 
of  all  the  armies  in  the  country.  Grant  selected  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  which  remained  under  direct  command  of  Meade, 
as  his  own  fighting  force ;  and  he  took  the  field  (May  4)  with 
102,000  effective  men  against  Lee's  army  of  61,000.  The  next 
day  he  was  attacked  by  Lee  in  the  wooded  region  of  northern 
Virginia  known  as  the  Wilderness,  and  withdrew  only  after 
three  days  of  blind,  confused,  and  blpody  fighting. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  always  re- 
treated after  such  a  check;  and  as  the  army  marched  south- 
ward, the  whole  length  of  the  column  rang  with  cheers,  for  the 
men  realized  that  they  were  to  fight  it  through  this  time. 

Grant  now  moved  southward  parallel  with  Lee's  army,  both 
sides  intrenching  every  night.  In  seventeen  days  after  be- 
ginning his  campaign,  he  lost  over  30,000  men.  At  Cold  Har- 
bor, fifteen  miles  from  Richmond,  he  found  the  enemy  strongly 
intrenched  in  what  was  really  a  great  fort.  He  attacked  (June  3) 
and  within  an  hour  had  lost  7000.  His  purpose  was  to  wear 
Lee  out,  and  he  could  have  afforded  to  give  two  men  for  one,  to 
break  up  that  opposing  army  then  and  there. 

Once  more  Grant  edged  southward,  and  attempted  to  seize 
Petersburg,  the  key  of  eastern  Virginia.  A  vain  effort  to  en- 
tice him  from  his  grip  was  made  by  the  Confederate  general 
Early,  who,  in  a  sudden  dash  northward,  reached  the  edge  of 


452         The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

the  city  of  Washington,  which  he  could  have  taken,  had  he 
known  how  few  its  defenders  were.  He  then  raided  and  burned 
Chambersburg.  After  the  failure  of  an  attempt  by  a  mine  to 
break  through  the  Confederate  defenses  of  Petersburg  at  a  spot 
thereafter  called  the  Crater  (July  30),  the  Union  troops  settled 
down  to  a  slow  siege  of  Petersburg  which  lasted  nearly  a  year. 

294.   GENERAL  GRANT  AND  GENERAL  LEE 

From  this  time  the  eyes  of  the  whole  North  were  on  Grant. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  was  a  man  of  the  plain  people,  a  descendant 

of  an  early  colonist  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, probably  of 
Scotch  ancestry.  The  son 
of  a  tanner,  he  was  born  in 
Ohio  (April  27,  1822),  was 
brought  up  first  to  farm 
work,  then  graduated  in 
1843  at  West  Point.  Two 
years  later  he  was  sent  to 
Taylor's  army  and  distin- 
guished himself  in  the 
Mexican  campaign.  He 
resigned  from  the  army  in 

1854,  and  then  tried  various 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.  Qf 


Louis  and  Galena,  Illinois,  and  fell  into  obscurity.  When  the 
war  broke  out,  Grant  returned  to  the  army.  From  1861  to 
1863  his  name  was  connected  with  most  of  the  successful  oper- 
ations in  the  West,  till  Lincoln  said  of  him  :  "I  can't  spare  this 
man;  he  fights." 

Grant  was  a  very  taciturn  man,  slow  to  express  an  opinion  ; 
he  disliked  writing,  and  sometimes  got  into  trouble  because  he 
would  not  report.  Yet  he  coined  some  apt  phrases,  as  in  his 
demand  for  the  surrender  of  Fort  Donelson  :  "No  terms  ex- 
cept an  unconditional  and  immediate  surrender  can  be  ac- 


General  Grant  and  General  Lee 


453 


cepted.  I  propose  to  move  immediately  upon  your  works"; 
and  in  1864,  "I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all 
summer." 

Grant's  greatest  characteristic  was  his  indomitable  grit. 
After  the  terrible  discouragements  of  the  campaign  of  1864, 
he  wrote,  "I  want  Sheridan  put  in  command  of  all  the  troops 
in  the  field  [of  the  Shenandoah],  with  instructions  to  put  him- 
self south  of  the  enemy  and  follow  him  to  the  death.  Wherever 
the  enemy  goes  let  our  troops  go  also."  This  intense  deter- 
mination kept  in  action  the  forces  that  brought  the  war  to  an 
end.  Grant  did  not  stake  all  on  one  battle ;  he  was  not  daunted 
or  discouraged  by  defeat;  he  simply  kept  at  it  till  his  enemy 
was  vanquished. 

Grant's  most  dangerous  opponent  was  Robert  E.  Lee,  who  was 
born  in  1807,  of  an  old  and  aristocratic  Virginia  family;  he 
graduated  from  West  Point 
(1829),  and  spent  thirty-two 
years  in  the  regular  army; 
he  distinguished  himself  in 
the  Mexican  War.  Just 
before  the  Civil  War  broke 
out  he  wrote  to  a  friend, 
"If  the  Union  is  dissolved 
and  the  government  dis- 
rupted, I  shall  return  .  to 
my  native  state  and  share 
the  miseries  of  my  people, 
and,  save  in  defense,  will 
draw  my  sword  on  none." 
A  few  days  after  the  fall  of 
Fort  Sumter  he  was  offered 
the  command  of  the  United 

States  army,  and  declined  it.  He  resigned,  and,  after  Virginia 
seceded,  accepted  a  Confederate  commission. 

For  a  year  Lee  saw  little  active  service ;   then  he  took  com- 


454        The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  Waf 

mand  of  the  Confederate  army  in  the  East  and  for  nearly  three 
years  was  the  unquestioned  leader  of  that  army.  His  brilliant 
division  and  corps  commanders,  Stonewall  Jackson,  Gordon, 
Longstreet,  A.  P.  Hill,  D.  H.  Hill,  Ewell,  Early,  and  J.  E.  B. 
Stuart,  remained  with  him  with  few  exceptions  till  the  end  of 
the  struggle.  The  things  that  made  Lee  a  great  soldier  were 
his  skillful  preparations,  his  watchfulness,  and  his  ability  to 
accomplish  much  with  small  resources.  In  this  respect  he  greatly 
resembled  Washington,  with  whom  he  has  often  been  compared. 
He  had  great  power  over  men,  and  his  soldiers  had  perfect 
confidence  in  "Uncle  Robert." 

295.    GEORGIA  AND  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGNS  (1864) 

On  the  same  day  that  Grant  moved  south  in  1864,  Sherman  be- 
gan an  advance  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  135  miles  through 

the  mountains ;  his  op- 
ponent was  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  till  he  was 
superseded  in  July  by 
the  more  dashing  Hood. 
During  four  months 
Sherman  worked  his 
way  southward,  skill- 
fully flanking  John- 
ston's smaller  army 
from  point  to  point. 
He  was  at  last  able  to 
telegraph  (September 
3),  "Atlanta  is  ours, 
and  fairly  won." 


SHERMAN  MONUMENT,  NEW  YORK. 


General  Johnston  was  of  Scotch  descent,  born  in  1807; 
he  was  a  classmate  of  Lee  at  West  Point,  and  then  served 
against  the  Indians  and  the  Mexicans.  In  1860  he  was  made 
quartermaster  general  of  the  United  States  army,  but  followed 
his  state  of  Virginia  when  it  seceded.  He  was  one  of  the  first 


Marching  through  Georgia  455 

generals  appointed  by  the  Confederacy,  commanded  in  the 
Shenandoah  valley,  at  Bull  Run,  in  the  Peninsular  Campaign, 
and  against  Grant  outside  of  Vicksburg.  Johnston's  most 
remarkable  service  was  in  1864,  when  with  about  70,000  men 
he  tried  to  hold  Sherman's  army  of  113,000.  His  policy  was  to 
avoid  general  engagements,  but  to  wear  the  invaders  out  by  a 
long  campaign,  and  by  attacking  their  ever  lengthening  line  of 
communications. 

The  Union  navy  shared  in  the  hard  work  of  1864,  especially  by 
Farragut's  attack  in  August,  on  the  powerful  defenses  of  Mobile 
Bay.  Farragut  fastened  himself  to  the  rigging  of  his  flagship, 
the  Hartford.  As  his  fleet  went  in,  his  monitor  Tecumseh  was 
torpedoed,  and  instantly  sank,  but  the  admiral  signaled  "Go 
ahead!"  The  Union  vessels  succeeded  in  passing  the  forts  at 
the  entrance  of  the  bay.  They  then  dashed  at  the  big  iron- 
clad ram  Tennessee,  firing  their  heavy  guns,  and  they  pounded 
her  till  she  surrendered.  The  forts  were  taken,  one  after  the 
other,  so  that  the  port  of  Mobile  was  closed  to  the  blockade 
runners. 

Farragut's  determination  never  ceased  throughout  the  war; 
he  was  one  of  the  most  careful  commanders  that  ever  lived ; 
he  made  all  his  preparations  beforehand,  weighed  the  risks, 
and  then  nothing  could  stop  him  short  of  the  sinking  of  his 
vessel;  and  his  courage  affected  everybody  in  the  fleet.  So 
perfect  were  his  discipline  and  his  coolness,  that  in  his  great 
fights  he  always  came  out  safe  with  a  small  loss  of  men. 

Fort  Fisher  was  taken  by  the  navy  and  the  army  (January, 
1865)  and  the  port  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  was  closed. 
Thereafter  there  was  no  large  port  open  to  the  blockade  run- 
ners except  Charleston. 

296.   MARCHING  THROUGH  GEORGIA  (1864) 

Sherman's  strong  imagination  suggested  to  him  that  the 
next  step  was  to  cut  the  Confederacy  in  two  by  marching 
eastward  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah  through  the  heart  of  the 


456  The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  Wai- 
country.  He  started  in  November  with  62,000  men.  There 
was  no  army  in  front  of  him  and  no  militia  that  could  op- 
pose him.  His  troops  lived  on  the  country,  and  as  Sherman 
passed  through  he  left  it  devastated,  so  far  as  he  could.  The 
main  army  was  followed  by  "Sherman's  Bummers,"  several 
thousand  stragglers  who  paid  very  little  attention  to  the  orders 
against  looting  private  houses,;  and  thousands  of  negro  "con- 
trabands" joined  in  the  procession  on  foot  or  in  wagons.  The 
railroads  were  destroyed  for  miles ;  even  the  rails  were  heated 
and  twisted  up.  Sherman  reached  and  took  Savannah  (De- 
cember 21),  and  Lincoln  wrote  to  him,  "The  honor  is  all  yours." 
General  William  T.  Sherman  (born  in  1820),  as  a  man  and  a 
soldier,  was  a  striking  figure.  He  was  a  member  of  a  distin- 
guished family,  and  all  his  life  long  was  acquainted  with  public 
affairs.  Sherman  graduated  at  West  Point  (1840),  and  was  sent 
out  to  California  in  1846.  In  1855  he  resigned,  and  when  the 
war  broke  out,  was  superintendent  of  a  military  school  in 
Louisiana.  Sherman  served  at  Bull  Run,  then  in  the  West, 
and  won  his  first  renown  at  Shiloh.  Then  he  commanded 
large  forces  in  the  Vicksburg  and  Chattanooga  campaigns. 
In  1864,  Sherman  was  put  in  command  of  most  of  the  western 
armies,  and  acted  in  perfect  accord  and  harmony  with  his  chief- 
tain, Grant.  As  a  military  man  Sherman's  chief  characteristic 
was  his  skill  in  forecasting  what  the  enemy  was  likely  to  do. 
He  was  a  great  strategist,  and  in  his  many  fights  and  cam- 
paigns always  tried  to  get  a  good  position  before  he  attacked. 
His  men  admired  him  and  called  him  "  Old  Billy  " ;  but  he 
was  too  brusque  and  fiery  for  the  warm  personal  love  which 
they  poured  out  on  McClellan  and  Thomas. 

297.  VALLEY  AND  TENNESSEE  CAMPAIGNS  (1864) 

Both  east  and  west,  subsidiary  campaigns  went  on  parallel 
with  the  marches  and  sieges  of  Grant  and  Sherman.  General 
Philip  H.  Sheridan  came  to  the  front  in  1864.  Born  in  New 
York  of  Irish  parents,  he  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and 


458        The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

served  on  the  western  frontier.  He  was  put  in  command  of 
a  brigade,  and  soon  after  of  a  division  in  Buell's  army  (1862). 
He  fought  at  Perryville,  Stone  River,  Chickamauga,  and  Chat- 
tanooga, and  in  1864  was  made  chief  of  the  cavalry  corps  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Later  he  was  sent  into  the  valley 
of  the  Shenandoah,  against  Early,  where  he  devastated  the 
country  so  that  it  should  no  longer  feed  the  Confederate 
army.  The  enemy  drove  Sheridan's  army  out  of  its  camp  at 
Cedar  Creek  (October  19)  while  General  Sheridan  was  about 
twenty  miles  to  the  north.  He  hurried  to  the  sound  of  the 
guns  and  found  a  number  of  demoralized  men  on  the  road,  but 
a  large  part  of  the  troops  were  still  in  line.  As  he  galloped 
along  the  line  he  shouted,  "We  are  all  right.  .  .  .  Never 
mind,  boys,  we'll  whip  them  yet,  we'll  whip  them  yet.  We 
shall  sleep  in  our  quarters  to-night."  He  pushed  the  enemy 
back,  and  actually  reoccupied  his  old  camp  at  Cedar  Creek  that 
night. 

When  Sherman  started  in  his  "march  to  the  sea"  (§  296) 
Thomas  was  left  in  command  of  the  forces  strung  all  the  way 
along  from  Nashville  to  Atlanta.  Hood  struck  northward  and 
intrenched  himself  south  of  Nashville,  where  Thomas  made 
ready  for  a  great  battle.  He  would  not  move  till  his  army  was 
fully  prepared.  In  vain  did  orders  follow  day  after  day  from 
Grant,  bidding  him  attack.  When  he  at  last  was  ready  (De- 
cember 15)  he  drove  Hood  from  his  lines,  and  the  Confederate 
army  was  routed  and  dispersed  in  two  days'  fighting.  This 
battle  practically  ended  the  war  in  the  West,  and  vindicated 
Thomas's  prudence  and  generalship. 

From  Savannah,  Sherman  marched  northward  to  Columbia, 
and  the  town  was  burned  as  his  forces  entered  it  (February  17, 
1865).  Neither  Sherman  nor  any  other  officer  gave  orders  to 
burn  it,  but  he  was  not  made  unhappy  by  the  catastrophe. 
Charleston  could  no  longer  be  defended  and  was  occupied  by 
other  Union  forces  (February  18,  1865).  The  battle  of  Benton- 
ville  (March  19)  was  the  last  serious  fight. 


End  of  the  War 


459 


298.   END  OF  THE  WAR  (1865) 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  during  these  brilliant  movements, 
was  losing  thousands  of  men  before  Petersburg,  but  slowly 
wore  down  Lee,  who  could  not  replace  his  losses.  He  even 
proposed  to  President  Davis  to  levy  negro  regiments;  but  the 
time  was  too  short  to  carry  out  the  plan.  Lee  forced  a  series 
of  fights  to  cover  his  preparations  for  a  retreat ;  he  then  aban- 


SURRENDER   OF   LEE. 

cloned  Petersburg  and  Richmond  and  struck  westward  along 
the  Appomattox  River.  Next  day,  April  3,  1865.  Richmond 
was  occupied  by  the  Union  troops. 

Grant  followed  close  after  Lee,  and  Sheridan  closed  in  the 
net.  A  week  after  leaving  his  intrenchments,  Lee  was  sur- 
rounded at  Appomattox,  and  (April  9)  he  surrendered  his  com- 
mand, which  had  now  dwindled  to  27,000  men.  Lee's  parting 
speech  to  his  troops  was  simply,  "  Men,  we  have  fought  through 
the  war  together ;  I  have  done  my  best  for  you."  A  few  days 
later,  Johnston  surrendered  his  army  to  Sherman,  at  Raleigh ; 


460        The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

and  the  Civil  War  was  practically  at  an  end.  Two  weeks  later 
Jefferson  Davis  was  captured  while  trying  to  escape. 

Many  suggestions  had  been  made  during  the  war,  looking 
toward  terms  of  peace.  Foreign  governments  tried  in  vain  to 
mediate.  In  1864  some  overtures  were  made  to  President 
Davis,  who  replied,  "You  may  'emancipate'  every  negro  in 
the  Confederacy,  but  we  will  be 
free,  we  will  govern  ourselves." 
Just  before  the  collapse  Lincoln 
met  Vice  President  Stephens  of 
the  Confederacy  at  Hampton 
Roads;  but  Lincoln  was  firm 
that  the  only  conditions  of 
peace  were  for  the  South  to  re- 
turn to  the  Union  and  for 
slavery  to  cease ;  and  on  those 
issues  the  conference  failed. 

After  Richmond  fell,  Lincoln 
took    pains    to    notify    General 
Grant  that  he  was  not  to  make 
any  pledges   for   the   future  of 
the  South.    Nevertheless,  Grant 
released    Lee's    men,    "not    to 
MONUMENT  TO  GKNKRAL  ROBERT    be    disturbed    by    the    United 
E.  LEE,  AT  RICHMOND.  States  authority  so  long  as  they 

observed  their  paroles  and  the  laws  in  force  where  they  reside." 
He  also  won  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  the  southern  officers 
and  soldiers  by  allowing  them  to  take  their  horses  home  for 
their  farm  work.  Sherman,  in  receiving  Johnston's  surrender, 
undertook  to  make  pledges  about  the  reorganization  of  the 
states;  but  this  action  was  disavowed  by  the  government  at 

Washington. 

299.   REVIEW 

The  Civil  War  began  with  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  April 
12,  1 86 1.     The  far  South  was  protected  by  the  ranges  of  the 


Review  461 

Appalachian  Mountains,  but  there  was  much  fighting  east  and 
west  of  the  mountains,  especially  in  Virginia,  along  the  railroad 
line  from  Louisville  to  Atlanta,  and  along  the  Mississippi  River. 

About  twice  as  many  individuals  enlisted  in  the  North  as  in 
the  South ;  but  they  served  on  the  average  a  shorter  time,  so 
that  the  proportion  of  men  in  the  field  was  usually  about  three 
Union  men  to  two  Confederates.  The  North  retained  most  of 
the  navy  and  two  thirds  of  the  regular  military  and  naval 
officers,  and  blockaded  the  southern  coast.  The  South  fitted 
up  a  few  ships  in  its  own  ports  and  others  in  England,  and 
made  many  captures  of  American  merchant  ships. 

The  principal  battles  of  the  war  were  as  follows : 

1861.  (i)  Bull  Run  (July  21),  Confederate  victory. 

1862.  (2)  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  (Feb.),  Union  victory 
by  Grant.     (3)  Monitor -Merrimac  (March  8),  Union  victory. 
(4)  Shiloh  (April  6),  drawn  battle.     (5)  New  Orleans  (April 
24),   Union   victory   by   Farragut.     (6)  Peninsular   Campaign 
(May  3i-July  i),  Confederate  victory,  McClellan  defeated  by 
Johnston  and  Lee.     (7)  Second  Bull  Run  (Aug.  28-30),  Con- 
federate victory,  Pope  defeated  by  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson. 

(8)  Antietam  (Sept.  17),  drawn  battle,  McClellan  against  Lee. 

(9)  Perryville  (Oct.  8),  Union  victory,  Bragg  defeated  by  Buell. 

(10)  Fredericksburg  (Dec.  13),  Confederate  victory,  Burnside 
defeated  by  Lee.     (n)  Stone  River  (Dec.  31,  Jan.  2),  Union 
victory,  Bragg  defeated  by  Rosecrans. 

1863.  (12)  Chancellorsville    (May   2),  Confederate  victory, 
Hooker  defeated  by  Lee.     (13)  Gettysburg  (July  1-3),  Union 
victory,  Lee  defeated  by  Meade.     (14)  Vicksburg   (July  4), 
Union  victory,  surrender  to  Grant.     (15)  Chickamauga  (Sept. 
19),   Confederate    victory,     Rosecrans    defeated    by    Bragg. 
(16)  Chattanooga    (Nov.    23-25),  Union    victory,  Bragg  de- 
feated by  Grant. 

1864.  (17)  Wilderness    (May    5-7),    Confederate    victory, 
Grant  defeated  by  Lee.     (18)  Mobile  Bay  (Aug.  5),  Union  vic- 
tory, forts  passed  by  Farragut.     (19)  Atlanta  (Sept.  3),  Union 


462        The  Military  Side  of  the  Civil  War 

victory,  captured  by  Sherman.  (20)  Cedar  Creek  (Oct.  ig), 
Union  victory,  Early  defeated  by  Sheridan.  (21)  Nashville 
(Dec.  15,  16),  Union  victory,  Hood  defeated  by  Thomas. 
(22)  Savannah  (Dec.  21),  taken  by  Sherman. 

1865.  (23)  Appomattox  (April  9),  Union  victory,  Lee  sur- 
rendered to  Grant. 

The  outcome  of  the  war  depended  in  large  degree  upon  the 
abilities  of  the  commanders;  but  in  the  end  it  was  won  by 
wearing  the  South  down  to  the  point  where  it  could  no  longer 
raise  men  and  keep  up  the  necessary  supplies. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  436-437,  446,  448.  —  Brigham, 
Geogr.  Influences,  ch.  vii.  —  Century  Co.,  Battles  and  Leaders.  —  Dodd, 
Expansion  and  Conflict,  313,  327.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  388.  — 
Hosmer,  Appeal  to  Arms;  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War.  —  Semple,  Geogr, 
Conditions,  ch.  xiv.  —  Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas,  208.  — Special  war  maps 
in  Atlas  of  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion.  — -  See  also  maps  in  Dodge, 
Rhodes,  Ropes  and  Livermore,  Wood  and  Edmonds,  cited  below. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.  S.,  518-520,  526-571.  —  Dodge,  Bird's  Eye 
View.  —  Fiske,  Mississippi  Valley  in  the  Civil  War.  —  Hosmer,  A  ppeal 
to  Arms,  chs.  iii-xiii,  xv-xix;  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  chs.  ii,  iii,  v-vii, 
x-xii,  xiv,  xvii.  —  Hovey,  Stonewall  Jackson.  —  Lee,  General  Lee,  99- 
399,  420-424.  —  Maclay,  U.S.  Navy,  II.  159-559.  —  Mahan,  Admiral 
Farragut,  chs.  vii-x,  xii.  — Morse,  Lincoln,  I.  298-367,  II.  31-94,  134- 
169,  276-285,  328-341.  —  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  IV-X 
passim.  —  Paxson,  Civil  War,  54-72,  91-102,  113-172,  208-213,  222-244. 

—  Rhodes,    U.S.,  III-V  passim.  —  Ropes  and  Livermore,  Civil  War. 

—  Schouler,   U.S.,  VI  passim.  — Scribner,  Campaigns  of  the  Civil  War; 
Navy  in  the  Civil  War.  —  Wilson,  General  Grant,  74-343.  —  Wood  and 
Edmonds,  Am.  Civil  War. 

Sources.  Am.  Annual  Cyclop.,  1861  to  1865.  —  Century  Co.,  Battles 
and  Leaders.  —  Eggleston,  Rebel's  Recollections.  —  Goss,  Recollections 
of  a  Private.  —  Grant,  Personal  Memoirs,  I.  229-584,  II.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  IV.  §§  84-95,  103-123,  132-140;  Source  Book,  §§  116- 
125.  —  Hosmer,  Color  Guard;  Thinking  Bayonet. — Lincoln,  Works, 
passim.  — Longstreet,  Manassas  to  Appomattox.  —  MacDonald,  Select 
Statutes,  nos.  i,  2,  5,  8,  26,  31,  40.  — Wormeley,  Other  Side  of  War. — 
See  New  Engl.  Hist.  Teachers'  Assoc.,  Hist.  Sources,  §  88;  Syllabus, 
3S4-3S6- 


References  and  Topics  463 

Illustrative.     Benson,  W  ho  Goes  There?;  Friend  with  the  Counter  sign. 

—  Brady,    The    Patriots     (Lee).  —  Cable,    The    Cavalier. — Eggleston, 
Am.  War  Ballads,  I.  167-226,  II.  —  Johnston,  Long  Roll;  Cease  Firing. 

—  King,  Rock  of  Chickamauga.  —  Matthews,  Poems  of  Am.  Patriotism, 
127-277.  — Moore,  Lyrics  of  Loyalty;    Rebel  Rhymes.  — Page,  Among 
the  Camps;   Two  Little  Confederates;  Burial  of  the  Guns.  —  Trowbridge, 
Drummer  Boy.  —  Webster,  Traitor  and  Loyalist  (blockade). 

Pictures.  Century  Co.,  Battles  and  Leaders.  —  Frank  Leslie's 
Weekly.  —  Forbes,  A  rtisl's  Story  of  the  Great  War.  —  Harper's  Pictorial 
History  of  the  Rebellion.  —  Johnson,  Camp  fire  and  Battlefield.  —  Miller, 
Photog.  Hist,  of  the  Civil  War. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Noted  ships  of  the  Union  navy.  [§  286]  —  (2)  Life  on  blockade 
runners,  or  blockading  ships.  [§  286]  —  (3)  Adventures  of  one  of  the  fol- 
lowing Confederate  cruisers :  Nashville;  Florida;  Alabama;  Shenan- 
doah.  [§  286]  —  (4)  Fight  between  the  Merrimac  and  Monitor.  [§  289] 

—  (5)  Grant's  Vicksburg  campaign.  [§  291]  —  (6)  Accounts  of  one  of 
the   following   battles:    Chancellorsville;    Gettysburg;    Chickamauga; 
Lookout   Mountain;     Chattanooga;    The  Wilderness;     Cold   Harbor; 
Petersburg ;  Mobile  Bay  ;  Fort  Fisher ;  Savannah  ;  Nashville.  [§§  291-297] 

—  (7)  Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea.  [§  296]  —  (8)  Surrender  of  Lee  at 
Appomattox.  [§  298] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(9)  Map  of  the  military  line  dividing  North  and  South  at  various 
dates  during  the  Civil  War.  [§  284]  —  (10)  Incidents  and  results  of  one 
of  the  following  battles:  Balls  Bluff;  Bull  Run;  Belmont;  Henry 
and  Donelson;  Island  No.  10;  Shiloh;  Corinth;  Perry ville;  Stone 
River;  New  Orleans;  Seven  Pines;  Malvern  Hill;  Second  Bull  Run; 
Antietam;  Fredericksburg.  [§§  287-290]  —  (n)  Military  services  of  one 
of  the  following  commanders  :  U.  S.  Grant ;  Halleck ;  Buell ;  McDowell ; 
A.S.Johnston;  Sherman;  Bragg;  Rosecrans;  Farragut ;  R.  E.  Lee; 
J.  E.  Johnston;  Stonewall  Jackson;  Pope;  Burnside.  [§§  288-290]  — 
(12)  Building  the  federal  navy.  [§  289]  —  (13)  Military  services  of  one 
of  the  following  generals:  Thomas;  Garfield;  Hooker;  Sheridan; 
Porter;  Hancock;  Franklin;  Longstreet ;  A.  P.  Hill;  D.  H.  Hill; 
Ewell;  Early;  Stuart;  Hood.  [§§  292-294]  —  (14)  Lincoln's  conference 
at  Hampton  Roads.  [§  298] 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

CIVIL  SIDE   OF  THE  WAR  (1861-1865) 

300.   UNION  GOVERNMENT 

DURING  the  long  and  fearful  war,  both  sides  kept  up  their 
governments,  made  every  effort  to  influence  foreign  powers, 
raised  money,  and  carried  on  their  business  and  domestic  life. 
The  United  States  Congress  and  the  other  parts  of  the  federal 
government  sat  regularly  in  Washington,  which  was  uncom- 
fortably near  the  scene  of  hostilities.  Though  the  war  was 
fought  to  vindicate  the  Constitution,  the  country  was  sub- 
jected to  many  arbitrary  methods  of  government,  some  of 
them  plainly  unconstitutional : 

(1)  In  the  territory  actually  occupied  by  the  army,  including 
the  city  of  Washington,  martial  law  —  that  is,  the  will  of  the 
commander  in  chief  —  was  declared ;  civilians  could  be  arrested 
simply  by  the  order  of  a  military  commander,  were  imprisoned 
without  charge  of  crime  or  right  of  trial,  and  in  some  instances 
were  tried  by  military  courts. 

(2)  Under  an  order  of  the  President  (April  27,  1861)  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  was   suspended.      Several   thousand   people 
first  and  last  were  arrested  in  a  haphazard  manner,  often  with- 
out knowing   the  charge  against  them ;    and  they  could  get 
free  only  through  the  request  of  some  man  of  influence. 

(3)  Provost  marshals  were  appointed  in  the  northern  cities, 
hundreds  of  miles  away  from  hostilities;    and  they  arrested 
thousands  of  people  under  military  law. 

(4)  In  1864  a  military  commission  condemned  to  death  Dr. 
Milligan  of  Indiana  for  taking  part  in  a  traitorous  secret  society. 

464 


Union  Government  465 

(5)  In  the  border  states,  and  even  in  the  North,  military 
officers  sometimes  shut  up  churches,  dissolved  societies,  or 
stopped  the  publication  of  newspapers.  It  is  true  that  the 
papers  abounded  in  war  gossip,  war  news,  and  war  stories, 
and  the  correspondents  often  revealed  military  secrets. 

These  measures,  though  reluctantly  supported  by  President 
Lincoln,  helped  to  swell  the  strong  party  which  was  opposed 
to  the  war.  The  "Peace  Democrats"  at  the  beginning  favored 
letting  the  South  secede,,  They  accepted  the  name  of  "Copper- 
head," bestowed  by  their  opponents,  and  wore  as  badges 
the  heads  cut  out  of  copper  cents ;  or  butternuts  cut  in 
sections,  because  the  butternut  was  the  ordinary  dye  for 
the  clothing  worn  by  Confederate  soldiers.  They  also  formed 
dangerous  secret  societies,  such  as  the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle,  with  thousands  of  members  in  Ohio  and  Indiana. 

One  of  the  leaders  of  the  Peace  Democrats  was  Clement  L. 
Vallandigham,  member  of  Congress  from  Ohio,  who  boasted  that 
he  never  voted  a  dollar  or  a  man  for  the  war.  In  May,  1863, 
he  was  convicted  by  a  military  court-martial  and  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  a  cutting  speech  against  martial  law;  but 
Lincoln  sent  him  across  the  lines  into  the  Confederacy  —  a 
practical  joke  which  to  many  people  seemed  bad  policy. 

An  act  of  Congress  for  drawing  recruits  by  lot  from  among 
the  able-bodied  men  led  to  terrible  "draft  riots"  in  the  city 
of  New  York  (July,  1863).  The  opposition  turned  into  a  savage 
mob  which  hunted  down  and  stoned  to  death  many  harmless 
negroes  and  white  people,  and  burned  colored  orphan  asy- 
lums. The  next  step  was  to  attack  buildings  which  repre- 
sented any  kind  of  government,  especially  police  stations  and 
armories.  The  police  fought  desperately,  but  were  too  few 
to  resist  such  a  rising.  Federal  troops  were  hastily  summoned, 
and  after  three  days  of  riot  the  mob  was  put  down  by  musket 
and  bayonet.  About  a  thousand  people  lost  their  lives  as  vic- 
tims of  the  mob,  or  by  the  shots  of  the  defenders  of  order,  and 
the  money  damage  was  many  millions. 
HART'S  NEW  AMIR.  HIST.  —  29 


466 


Civil  Side  of  the  War 


301.   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT 

The  Confederate  government  moved  from  Montgomery  to 
Richmond  after  Virginia  seceded.  The  "permanent  con- 
stitution," which  went  into  effect  February  18,  1862,  was  a 

revision  of  the  old  fed- 
eral Constitution,  with 
the  significant  change 
that  the  word  "slave" 
was  freely  used.  In  prac- 
tice, many  parts  of  this 
constitution  never  went 
into  effect;  for  instance, 
the  Supreme  Court  was 
never  formed.  The  Presi- 
dent overshadowed  the 
rest  of  the  government, 
and  state  rights  were 
often  disregarded. 

President  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  head  and  type 
JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  of  the   Confederacy,  was 

born  in  Kentucky  (1808) 

not  far  from  the  birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was 
educated  at  West  Point  and  served  seven  years  as  lieutenant 
in  the  army.  From  1845  to  1851  he  was  in  Congress,  and  as 
a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  War  he  served  with  distinction. 
From  1853  to  1857  he  was  Pierce's  Secretary  of  War,  and 
then  as  senator  from  Mississippi  came  forward  as  the  leader 
of  the  ultra  proslavery  men  in  Congress.  After  the  election 
of  Lincoln,  Davis  used  his  place  and  influence,  before  resigning 
from  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  to  bring  about  the  break- 
up of  the  Union.  During  the  war  he  was  almost  a  civil  dicta- 
tor, acting  through  his  influence  on  the  Confederate  Congress ; 
his  veto  was  overridden  but  once  in  four  years. 


Foreign  Relations  467 

In  his  speeches  and  public  papers,  Davis  simply  assumed 
as  a  matter  of  course,  not  subject  to  argument,  that  negroes 
were  no  part  of  the  political  community;  he  also  tacitly  as- 
sumed that  the  ruling  class,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  were 
entitled  to  govern  their  fellow  white  men.  In  both  respects 
he  satisfied  the  public  sentiment  of  the  South,  which,  on  the 
whole,  loyally  supported  him  to  the  end.  He  was  an  example 
of  the  resolute,  masterful,  slaveholder  statesman. 

302.   FOREIGN  RELATIONS 

The  government  of  the  United  States  continued  to  hold  to 
the  former  treaties  and  diplomatic  relations  with  foreign  powers. 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  son  of  President  John  Quincy  Adams, 
was  sent  as  minister  to  Great  Britain,  but  on  the  day  before 
he  reached  London,  the  British  government  issued  (May  13, 
1861)  a  proclamation  of  neutrality  in  the  contest  between 
"The  United  States  of  America,  and  certain  states  styling 
themselves  the  'Confederate  States  of  America.'"  Other 
European  governments  took  similar  action.  This  was  a 
formal  and  justified  recognition  that  a  belligerent  power 
was  in  existence  in  the  southern  states,  with  a  government 
that  directed  armies  in  the  field,  and  with  warships  on  the 
sea  which  were  entitled  to  the  same  treatment  in  foreign 
ports  as  the  public  ships  of  the  Union.  Although  President 
Lincoln's  proclamation  of  blockade  (§  283)  practically  recog- 
nized this  "belligerency,"  the  North  long  cherished  wrath 
against  Great  Britain  for  thus  treating  the  Civil  War  as  a  war, 
instead  of  as  a  domestic  rebellion. 

To  the  Confederacy  the  action  of  Great  Britain  seemed  far 
too  weak;  and  in  1861  commissioners  were  sent  to  Europe  to 
ask  for  full  recognition  as  an  independent  nation.  The  com- 
missioners, Mason  and  Slidell,  while  on  their  way  through  the 
West  Indies  in  the  British  merchant  steamer  Trent,  were  forcibly 
taken  off  by  Captain  Wilkes  in  the  United  States  ship  of  war 
San  Jacinto  (November  8).  The  country  and  Congress  were 


468  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

delighted  at  the  capture;  but  Lincoln  pointed  out  that  the 
search  of  neutral  ships  was  just  what  drove  the  United  States 
to  war  in  1812  (§§  163,  167).  Lord  Palmerston,  the  British 
prime  minister,  prepared  a  dispatch  which  might  have  led  to 
immediate  war ;  but  Queen  Victoria  insisted  that  a  more  peace- 
ful tone  should  be  taken.  On  the  other  side,  Lincoln  and  the 
Cabinet  saw  that  to  stand  out  meant  war  with  Great  Britain 
and  the  consequent  success  of  the  Confederacy ;  and  they  pru- 
dently decided  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  Mason  and  Slidell 
were  rightfully  taken ;  therefore  the  two  men  were  finally  given 
up.  These  and  other  Confederate  agents  in  Europe  strove  hard 
but  in  vain  to  persuade  foreign  powers,  especially  Great  Britain 
and  France,  to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  South.  Na- 
poleon III,  Emperor  of  the  French,  was  favorable  to  the  Con- 
federacy, but  dared  not  act  alone. 

By  this  time  it  became  necessary  to  prove  to  foreign  nations 
that  the  North  was  making  war  on  behalf  of  freedom,  and  not 
simply  for  the  sake  of  ruling  the  South.  Napoleon  III  was 
trying  to  conquer  Mexico  and  had  no  liking  for  the  North. 
The  English  were  hard  hit  because  the  blockade  cut  off  the 
raw  material  for  their  cotton  manufactures,  and  thousands 
of  mill  hands  were  thrown  out  of  work.  The  ruling  aristoc- 
racy of  England  made  no  secret  of  its  hope  that  the  South 
would  succeed.  A  brilliant  young  statesman,  William  E. 
.» Gladstone,  publicly  said,  "Jefferson  Davis  and  other  leaders 
of  the  South  have  made  an  army;  they  are  making,  it 
appears,  a  navy;  and  they  have  made,  which  is  more  impor- 
tant than  either  ...  a  nation." 

After  the  defeat  of  McClellan  and  Pope  in  1862  (§  290), 
Lord  Palmerston  was  on  the  point  of  offering  a  "mediation," 
which  would  have  meant  something  very  like  recognition; 
but  there  was  a  strong  Union  sentiment  in  England,  especially 
among  the  workmen  in  the  cotton  mills,  who  felt  that  the 
rights  of  free  labor  were  involved;  and  they  were  repre- 
sented in  Parliament  by  the  orator  John  Bright,  who  was 


Finances  469 

a  great  friend  of  the  United  States  government.  The  defeat 
of  the  ironclad  Merrimac,  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  still 
more  the  campaigns  in  the  West  during  1862  (§  288),  took 
away  the  pretexts  for  immediate  recognition ;  and  the  success 
of  the  Union  arms  in  1863  and  1864  made  it  impossible  with- 
out arousing  the  enmity  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

303.   FINANCES 

It  was  as  hard  for  both  sides  to  raise  the  necessary  means  as 
to  fight  in  the  field.  The  federal  Congress  met  in  special  ses- 
sion, July  4,  1861,  to  provide  for  the  war.  The  "Morrill 
tariff  "  had  already  passed  in  March,  after  many  southern 
members  had  withdrawn  from  Congress ;  it  restored  the  gen- 
eral scale  of  rates  of  the  tariff  of  1846  (§  229),  but  it  added 
some  high  protective  duties.  At  various  times  throughout 
the  war  the  tariff  was  raised  and  raised  again.  Congress  also 
began  to  lay  new  taxes  of  many  kinds,  such  as  the  old-fashioned 
excise  on  liquor  (§  139) ;  duties  on  incomes  (bringing  in 
$347,000,000  in  all);  duties  on  manufacturing;  stamp  duties 
in  many  ingenious  forms;  in  fact,  taxes  on  almost  everything 
that  could  be  reached.  The  proceeds  of  the  taxes  rose  from 
$40,000,000  in  1860  to  $490,000,000  in  1865 ;  but  they  did 
not  keep  pace  with  the  expenditures,  which  were  $66,000,000 
in  1860,  and  $1,290,000,000  in  1864.  To  meet  the  deficits, 
heavy  loans  were  secured ;  and  the  government  debt  grew  from 
$90,000,000  in  1 86 1  to  nearly  $3,000,000,000  in  1866,  bearing 
an  interest  of  $133,000,000  a  year. 

Another  great  change  was  a  complete  revolution  in  currency 
and  banking.  In  1862  Congress  authorized  the  issue  of  "legal 
tender  notes" ;  that  is,  paper  money  which  must  be  accepted 
if  offered  by  debtors  to  creditors.  These  "greenbacks"  grad- 
ually grew  to  over  $450,000,000.  Congress  in  1863  chartered 
a  system  of  national  banks  with  a  currency  which  was  secured 
by  government  bonds.  In  order  to  increase  the  demand  for 
the  bonds  through  the  new  banks,  Congress  in  1864  laid  a  tax 


470  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

of  ten  per  cent  on  the  notes  of  the  state  banks,  which  drove 
those  notes  out  of  circulation,  and  caused  many  of  the  banks 
to  accept  national  bank  charters. 

In  all  these  financial  measures  the  North  had  the  great  ad- 
vantages of  support  by  a  rich  community  and  of  easy  access  to 
Europe,  where  military  supplies  were  bought  in  large  quanti- 
ties. The  southern  Confederacy  had  no  such  reserves  of  wealth 
and  was  shut  in  by  the  blockade.  The  specie  in  the  banks  and 
in  private  hands  was  quickly  spent.  It  was  hard  to  raise  large 
sums  by  taxation,  and  great  quantities  of  paper  money  were 
issued  by  Confederate  states  and  the  Confederate  government. 

304.   CONTRABANDS  AND  ABOLITION  BY  CONGRESS  (1861-1862) 

Early  in  the  struggle  it  became  evident  that  the  purpose  of 
the  war  could  not  be  limited  by  the  resolution  of  July,  1861 
(§  283).  The  Union  could  never  be  restored  just  as  it  was,  be- 
cause slavery  could  not  be  kept  out  of  the  contest.  It  was 
easy  to  take  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  a  system  under 
which  the  laborers-  could  not  be  soldiers.  Several  different 
measures  were  directed  against  the  slaveholders : 

(1)  Since  a  recognized  measure  of  war  against  a  slaveholding 
country  is  for  the  invading  commander  to  declare  the  slaves 
of  his  enemy  free,  Congress  (August,  1861)  made  partial  use 
of  this   "war  power"  against  slavery.     It  passed  a  confisca- 
tion act,  providing  that  if  slaves  were  used  in  promoting  any 
insurrection,    the   owner   should   "forfeit    his   claim    to    such 
labor." 

(2)  As  soon  as  the  armies  began  to  move,  hundreds  of  negroes 
took  matters  into  their  own  hands  by  running  away  and  com- 
ing into  the  federal  camps.     General  B.   F.   Butler,  in  com- 
mand at  Fort  Monroe,  found  more  than  a  thousand  such  refu- 
gees.    When    he  was    asked  to  surrender    some    fugitives  to 
their  masters,  who  came  from  within  the  Confederate  lines  to 
claim  them,  he  replied,  "I  shall  detain  the  negroes  as  contra- 
band of  war."     The  phrase  struck  the  popular  fancy,  and  from 


Contrabands  and  Abolition  by  Congress     471 

that  time  to  the  end  of  the  war  "contraband"  meant  a  south- 
ern slave,  usually  a  refugee. 

(3)  Two  Union  generals  tried  to  go  further.  General  Fre- 
mont (August,  1861)  and  General  Hunter  (May,  1862)  issued 
proclamations  freeing  the  slaves  in  their  military  districts,  and 
even  beyond ;  but  President  Lincoln  disavowed  both  the  proc- 


NEGROES  FLEEING  TO  FORT  MONROE.  (From  a  magazine  sketch  of  1 86 1.) 

iamations,  because  slavery  was  too  large  a  question  to  be  set- 
tled by  subordinates. 

(4)  The  abolitionists  and  antislavery  people  were  joined  by 
many  thousands  of  people  who  had  up  to  that  time  been  apa- 
thetic, but  who  wanted  to  weaken  the  South  by  destroying  the 
value  of  slave  labor ;  and  the  feeling  was  reflected  in  Congress, 
which  outran  the  President,  and  in  1862  passed  three  sweeping 
emancipation  acts :  (a)  The  3000  slaves  in  the  District  of  Co- 


472  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

lumbia  were  set  free  (April  16),  and  their  masters  were  given 
a  compensation  of  about  $300  for  each  one.  (6)  In  flat  contra- 
diction to  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  1857,  Congress  passed  a 
statute  (June  19)  immediately  abolishing  slavery  in  every 
territory,  without  compensation.  (c)  The  strong  feeling  of 
personal  wrath  against  the  leaders  on  the  other  side  caused  Con- 
gress to  provide,  in  a  second  confiscation  act  (July  17),  for  the 
seizure  of  all  the  property  of  people  convicted  of  treason,  or 
who  "engaged  in  armed  rebellion,"  including  such  slaVes  of 
rebel  owners  as  might  in  any  manner  come  inside  the  Union 
lines.  Lincoln  signed  the  bill ;  and  as  fast  as  the  Union  lines 
extended,  thousands  of  slaves  flocked  to  their  camps,  and  thus 
became  free. 

305.   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN 

A  few  months'  experience  showed  that  the  man  for  this 
crisis  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  one  indispensable  figure  in  the 
Civil  War.  Two  characteristics  made  him  the  greatest  man 
of  his  time :  his  practical  common  sense  went  straight  home  to 
the  essential  point  in  everything  that  he  was  considering ;  and 
his  quick  sensitive  heart  knew  by  instinct  the  beliefs  and  hopes 
of  his  fellow  countrymen.  Toward  the  weak  and  needy,  Lincoln 
had  a  tender  feeling.  He  could  not  bear  even  to  sign  the  death 
warrant  of  a  deserter,  for,  he  said,  "I  am  trying  to  evade  the 
butchering  business."  The  same  sympathy  and  sweetness  of 
character  were  shown  in  a  thousand  ways  to  the  people  who 
beset  the  White  House  with  their  little  personal  errands  — 
the  poor  woman  whose  only  son  was  sick  in  the  hospital,  or 
the  boy  who  wanted  a  commission,  or  the  stranger  who  came 
in  from  mere  curiosity. 

Although  Lincoln  always  distrusted  his  own  military  judg- 
ment, he  learned  to  understand  the  conditions  of  war  better 
than  most  of  his  commanders.  His  writings  are  full  of  quaint 
telegrams  to  his  generals;  for  example:  "Fight  him,  too, 
when  opportunity  offers.  If  he  stays  where  he  is,  fret  him  and 


Emancipation  by  Proclamation  473 

fret  him."  To  General  Grant  he  once  telegraphed:  "I  have 
seen  your  dispatch  expressing  your  unwillingness  to  break  your 
hold  where  you  are.  Neither  am  I  willing.  Hold  on  with  a 
bulldog  grip,  and  chew  and  choke  as  much  as  possible."  On 
another  side  of  his  character,  Lincoln  was  the  shrewdest  politi- 
cian of  his  time ;  he  was  very  keen  in  judging  election  returns ; 
he  knew  how  to  keep  congressmen  good-natured  with  offices. 

During  the  first  three  years  of  the  war,  Lincoln  was  criti- 
cized by  many  members  of  his  own  party,  who  thought  him 
weak  and  indecisive  because  he  held  a  temperate  middle  course, 
avoiding  extremes.  Only  by  degrees  did  people  begin  to  under- 
stand that  this  plain,  homely  man  in  the  White  House  had  a 
spirit  of  surpassing  wisdom,  and  an  unselfish  care  for  his 
country's  welfare.  Patient  in  defeat,  calm  in  victory,  Abraham 
Lincoln  came  to  be  recognized  as  a  true  father  of  his  country. 

306.   EMANCIPATION  BY  PROCLAMATION  (1862-1864) 

Throughout  1862  President  Lincoln  was  brooding  over  the 
question  of  his  duty  to  his  country,  and  his  power  as  com- 
mander in  chief  to  declare  free  all  the  slaves  in  the  Confederacy. 
Lincoln  was  born  in  a  border  slave  state,  understood  the  south- 
ern people,  and  was  anxious  not  to  take  any  step  that  would 
drive  Kentucky  and  Missouri  out  of  the  Union.  Therefore  he 
sent  to  Congress  a  message  (March,  1862)  urging  that  the  fed- 
eral government  cooperate  with  the  states  in  setting  the  slaves 
free,  with  a  money  payment  to  the  masters. 

Lincoln  said  of  himself:  "I  am  naturally  antislavery.  If 
slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong" ;  and  at  another  time, 
"You  must  not  expect  me  to  give  up  this  government  without 
playing  my  last  card."  In  August,  1862,  Horace  Greeley  came 
out  in  the  New  York  Tribune  with  what  he  called  the  "Prayer 
of  Twenty  Millions,"  violently  abusing  the  President  for  his 
"mistaken  deference  to  rebel  slavery."  The  President  re- 
plied in  a  public  letter,  "My  paramount  object  ...  is  to  save 
the  Union,  it  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy  slavery." 


474  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

Slowly  Lincoln  made  up  his  mind  that  the  best  way  to  save 
the  Union  was  to  free  the  slaves.  Calling  his  Cabinet  together 
(September  22,  1862),  he  read  them  the  draft  of  a  preliminary 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  which  declared  that  "On  the 
first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any 
State  or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall 
then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free."  As  a  military  measure  the 
proclamation  had  no  immediate  effect ;  it  roused  only  defiance 
in  the  South  and  was  at  first  coldly  received  in  the  North.  In 
the  elections  of  congressmen  a  few  weeks  later,  the  Republican 
party  barely  kept  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Nevertheless,  on  January  i,  1863,  the  President  issued  his 
second  and  final  proclamation,  which  applied  to  all  the  seceded 
states  except  Tennessee  and  those  parts  of  Louisiana  and 
Virginia  which  were  then  occupied  by  Union  troops.  Then 
Lincoln  set  himself  to  the  task  of  persuading  the  border-state 
slaveholders  to  free  their  slaves  and  take  a  compensation.  They 
might  have  had  about  a  hundred  million  dollars  in  bonds,  but 
they  refused  to  admit  that  slavery  was  wrong,  even  by  giving 
it  up.  In  the  border  states  thousands  of  slaves  ran  away. 
By  act  of  Congress  (in  1862)  the  troops  were  forbidden  to  return 
them;  and  in  1864  Congress  repealed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act. 
After  that  time  the  slave  who  stayed  with  his  master  in  the 
border  states  did  so  only  because  he  liked  him. 

307.   EMANCIPATION  AND  POLITICS  (1862-1864) 

The  good  effects  of  the  proclamation  were  at  once  seen 
abroad,  where  the  friends  of  the  Union  in  England  in  1863 
thwarted  a  last  effort  to  have  Great  Britain  and  France  "me- 
diate" in  the  struggle  (§  302).  When  two  ironclad  ships  of 
war,  the  "Laird  rams,"  were  ordered  for  the  Confederacy  in 
England,  our  minister,  Adams,  protested,  and  used  the  grim 
phrase,  "It  would  be  superfluous  in  me  to  point  out  to  your 


Emancipation  and  Politics  475 

Lordship  that  this  is  war."  The  British  government  had  al- 
ready decided  to  hold  the  vessels,  and  they  were  never  delivered 
to  the  Confederacy. 

Three  of  the  loyal  border  states,  which  were  practically  under 
military  rule,  settled  the  slavery  question  for  themselves: 
(i)  The  new  state  of  West  Virginia  in  1863  adopted  an  anti- 
slavery  constitution.  (2)  A  constitutional  ordinance  in  Mis- 
souri provided  for  gradual  emancipation  (1863).  (3)  A  new 
Maryland  constitution  abolished  slavery  outright  (1864). 
Lincoln  tried  to  help  the  process  by  rinding  some  place  in  Cen- 
tral America  where  the  former  slaves  could  be  colonized ;  but 
the  experiment  did  not  work. 

Both  the  confiscation  act  of  1862  and  the  final  Emancipation 
Proclamation  authorized  the  enlistment  of  negro  troops.  The 
first  full  negro  regiment  in  service  was  the  First  South  Caro- 
lina Volunteers,  commanded  by  Colonel  T.  W.  Higginson,  a 
New  England  abolitionist.  In  the  summer  of  1863  the  govern- 
ment ordered  a  draft,  and  states  began  to  fill  up  their  quotas  by 
recruiting  negroes  in  the  federal  camps  on  the  coast.  One  of 
these  regiments,  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts,  took  part  in  a 
bloody  assault  on  Battery  Wagner  near  Charleston  (July, 
1863).  Its  colonel,  Robert  G.  Shaw,  was  killed ;  and  the  enemy 
"buried  him  with  his  niggers."  The  186,000  negro  troops 
eventually  received  the  pay  and  treatment  of  white  troops. 

The  state  elections  of  1863  responded  to  the  victories  at 
Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  by  giving  good  Republican  majori- 
ties. Though  Lincoln  had  the  confidence  of  the  people,  in 
1864  a  clique  of  disaffected  Republican  politicians,  including 
Secretary  Chase,  wanted  to  set  him  aside.  Nevertheless  the 
regular  Republican  convention  was  practically  unanimous  for 
Lincoln,  on  a  platform  that  slavery  must  be  destroyed.  An- 
drew Johnson  of  Tennessee  was  put  on  the  ticket  as  the  candi- 
date for  Vice  President,  in  order  to  strengthen  it  in  the  border 
states.  The  Democrats  nominated  for  the  presidency  General 
George  B.  McClellan,  as  representative  of  the  war  Democrats 


476  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

and  as  a  soldier  candidate ;  but  declared  in  their  platform  that 
there  "had  been  four  years  of  failure  to  restore  the  Union  by 
the  experiment  of  war." 

The  failure  of  Grant  to  break  up  Lee's  army  in  June,  1864 
(§  293),  had  a  damaging  effect  on  the  campaign,  and  Lincoln 
was  deeply  discouraged,  for  he  miscalculated  the  people's  af- 
fection for  their  President.  To  the  eighteen  free  states  in  the 
Union  in  1860  had  been  added  Kansas  (1861),  West  Virginia 
(1863),  and  Nevada,  the  36th  state  (1864).  Lincoln  carried 
all  the  twenty-one  except  New  Jersey ;  and  also  Maryland  and 
Missouri  out  of  the  four  border  states  in  the  Union.  He  se- 
cured 212  electoral  votes  to  21;  and  2,200,000  popular  votes 
against  1,800,000  for  McClellan.  The  reelection  of  Lincoln 
made  it  certain  that  the  war  would  be  fought  to  a  finish,  and 
enabled  the  government  to  find  men  to  recruit  Grant's  army 
before  Petersburg  (§§  293,  298). 

308.  How  THE  NORTH  AND  THE  SOUTH  LIVED 

Life  was  exciting  in  Civil  War  times.  People  opened  the 
morning  papers  with  dread,  for  after  the  battles  there  were 
long  lists  of  killed  and  wounded,  which  carried  woe  to  thou- 
sands of  families.  Then  came  a  flood  of  wounded  and  sick 
pouring  back  from  the  front;  thousands  of  them  died  in  the 
hospitals,  other  thousands  went  maimed  about  the  streets. 

Northern  people  were  always  doing  things  for  the  soldiers. 
In  almost  every  village  and  city  there  was  a  ladies'  aid  society, 
in  which  the  women  scraped  lint  for  wounds,  made  bandages 
and  comfortable  clothing,  haversacks,  mittens,  and  articles  for 
the  sick,  and  collected  provisions,  clothing,  and  blankets  for  the 
soldiers.  Two  large  charitable  societies,  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion and  the  Christian  Commission,  took  these  supplies,  moved 
them  to  the  front,  and  distributed  them  to  the  needy. 

People  had  to  learn  the  use  of  several  new  kinds  of  money. 
After  the  banks  suspended  specie  payments  in  December, 
1 86 1,  a  gold  coin  was  a  curiosity;  and  presently  the  silver 


How  the  North  and  the  South  Lived       477 

also  went  out  of  circulation.  For  months  the  only  small  change 
was  sticky  postage  stamps,  till  Congress  provided  the  little 
"shinplasters,"  or  fractional  currency.  Early  in  1862  ap- 
peared the  crisp  and  beautiful  new  legal  tender  "greenbacks  " 
(§3°3)>  and  as  they  came  pouring  out  they  began  to  fall  in  gold 
value ;  and  prices  correspondingly  rose  to  double,  once  almost  to 
triple,  the  old  rates.  Yet  business  was  good  in  most  parts  of 
the  country,  crops  were  large,  manufactures  increased,  the 
railroads  were  busy,  and  many  business  men  were  happy. 

Behind  the  Confederate  lines  life  was  just  as  exciting  as  in 
the  North,  though  much  less  comfortable.  Throughout  the 
South  there  was  the  same  passionate  support  of  the  soldiers  as 
in  the  North,  the  same  fervent  prayer  to  the  Almighty  to  bless 
their  cause.  By  severe  conscription  acts  every  able-bodied  white 
man  between  seventeen  and  fifty  years  was  called  into  the  army, 
so  that  General  Grant  said,  "They  robbed  the  cradle  and  the 
grave."  The  ne- 
groes on  the  plan- 
tations raised  the 
crops  and  took 
care  of  the  women 
and  children,  and  a 
slave  insurrection 
would  have  dis- 
solved the  Confed- 
erate army;  but 
the  negroes  never 
rose. 

The  war  brought 
dire    poverty    on 

the  South.  The  blockade  cut  down  the  cotton  export  from 
$191,000,0*00  in  1860  to  $19,000,000  in  1862.  Confederate 
paper  notes  (§  303)  were  never  legal  tender,  but  they  were  put 
out  by  hundreds  of  millions,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  war 
their  value  fell  to  a  cent  on  the  dollar :  cornmeal  sold  in  Rich- 


CONFEDERATE   MONEY. 


478  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

mond  for  $80  a  bushel  in  paper;  flour  at  $1000  a  barrel;   a 
newspaper  cost  a  dollar. 

As  the  war  progressed  the  South  could  no  longer  replace 
its  men  who  fell  or  were  made  prisoners;  and  therefore  the 
North  refused  to  exchange,  even  though  a  hundred  thousand 
northern  soldiers  remained  in  southern  prisons.  The  commis- 
sary of  the  Confederate  army  was  ill  managed ;  and  there  were 
few  supplies  in  the  country.  Libby  Prison  for  officers  in  Rich- 
mond, and  various  prisons  farther  south,  were  all  badly  mis- 
managed. The  prison  stockade  at  Andersonville  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  small  garrison,  officered  by  men  of  the  overseer  type, 
who  were  in  constant  fear  lest  the  prisoners  should  break  loose. 
Hence,  in  a  country  abounding  in  timber  and  with  plenty  of 
good  water,  the  prisoners  were  confined  in  a  treeless  stockade 
on  a  foul  stream,  and  were  fearfully  overcrowded,  with  no  ma- 
terials to  build  proper  houses.  They  had  the  same  kind  of  food 
that  was  provided  for  the  jails  and  the  negro  quarters,  and  often 
for  the  Confederate  troops  at  the  front  —  chiefly  cornmeal, 
sometimes  ground  cob  and  all. 

309.   BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  (1861-1865) 

The  war  soon  showed  the  difficulty  of  assuming  that  the 
seceding  states  were  still  in  the  Union.  The  forty  mountain 
counties  of  western  Virginia  settled  the  problem  for  themselves 
by  refusing  to  secede  with  Virginia.  They  held  a  convention, 
formed  a  reorganized  government  of  Virginia,  and  later  framed 
a  constitution  for  the  new  state  of  West  Virginia,  and  asked 
to  be  admitted  into  the  Union.  As  the  Constitution  provides 
that  no  state  shall  be  divided  "without  the  consent  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  states  concerned,"  Congress  accepted  the 
fiction  that  the  legislature  at  Wheeling  could  give  such  a  con- 
sent in  the  name  of  the  whole  state  of  Virginia ;  and  in  June, 
1863,  West  Virginia  became  a  separate  state. 

In  1 86 1  to  1863,  under  the  direct  and  earnest  insistence  of 
President  Lincoln,  so-called  state  governments  were  formed  in 


Beginnings  of  Reconstruction  479 

Virginia,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and  Tennessee ;  governors  were 
elected  by  a  handful  of  voters,  legislatures  were  chosen,  sena- 
tors and  members  of  the  House  appeared  in  Washington,  and 
several  were  actually  admitted  to  Congress  for  a  short  period, 
though  at  the  same  time  these  states  were  represented  in  the 
Confederate  Congress  at  Richmond.  By  a  formal  procla- 
mation (December  8,  1863)  Lincoln  offered  to  all  persons  who 
had  "participated  in  the  existing  rebellion,"  except  the  leaders, 
pardon  and  amnesty  "with  restoration  of  all  rights  and  property 
except  as  to  slaves";  and  he  promised  to  recognize  new  state 
governments  in  any  of  the  seceded  states,  if  formed  by  one 
tenth  or  more  of  the  voters,  provided  they  would  take  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 

The  success  of  the  Union  arms  raised  Lincoln  in  1865  to  the 
highest  point  in  his  whole  life.  He  had  the  people  behind  him 
and  could  have  struck  out  a  policy  for  restoring  the  Union  which 
Congress  must  have  followed.  He  was  himself  a  southern  man 
by  birth,  understood  the  southern  people,  and  in  his  great 
nature  there  was  no  room  for  enmity  toward  those  who  had 
fought  bravely  and  were  beaten.  The  difficult  problem  of 
reconstruction  seemed  ready  for  him  to  solve. 

Terrible,  therefore,  was  the  blow  that  fell  upon  the  whole 
country  when,  just  four  years  from  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter,  the  President  was  shot  in  a  box  at  Ford's  Theater,  during 
a  play,  by  the  organizer  and  head  of  a  band  of  conspirators. 
The  next  morning  the  President's  life  ebbed  away,  and  he  died 
(April  15,  1865)  at  the  height  of  his  service  and  power. 

The  whole  country  felt  that  Lincoln  had  died  for  his  coun- 
try as  truly  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  front  line  at  Gettysburg. 
The  work  that  he  did  will  live  imperishably,  for  he  rescued 
the  Union  and  he  destroyed  slavery.  The  principles  of  his 
life  he  summed  up  a  few  days  before  his  death :  "With  malice 
toward  none ;  with  charity  for  all ;  with  firmness  in  the  right, 
as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the 
work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ;  to  care  for 


480 


Civil  Side  of  the  War 


him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and 
his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just 
and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

310.   COST  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

What  was  the  cost  of  the  Civil  War?  In  men,  360,000  on  the 
Union  side  were  killed  or  died  of  disease,  and  about  258,000  on 
the  Confederate  side.  In  money,  the  United  States  paid  out 
during  the  Civil  War,  for  other  purposes  than  its  ordinary  civil 
expenses,  $3,660,000,000;  the  Confederacy  probably  spent 
$1,500,000,000  measured  in  gold.  As  for  destruction  of  prop- 
erty, no  free  territory  was 
invaded,  except  Indiana,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Ohio  for  a  few 
days;  and  the  destruction  of 
northern  merchant  vessels 
amounted  to  only  $20,000,000. 
The  border  states  of  the  Union, 
as  well  as  the  seceding  South, 
however,  were  invaded  at  many 
different  points  and  devastated 
by  marching  armies,  both  Union 
and  Confederate.  Thousands 
of  houses  were  burned,  the  busi- 
ness of  cities  was  for  months 
suspended,  the  cotton  crop  was 
nearly  a  dead  loss.  The  South 
was  commercially  ruined,  while 
the  North,  in  spite  of  its  im- 
mense expenses,  had  more  men, 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR  AT  more  capital,  and  more  money 
NEWBURYPORT,  MASS.  at  the  end  of  the  war  than  at 

the  beginning. 

The    South   felt   also   that   it  had  lost  four  million  slaves 
whom  it  valued  in  1860  at  $2,000,000,000.     The  slaveholding 


Review  481 

families  did  lose  the  opportunity  of  turning  their  human  prop- 
erty into  cash ;  but  most  of  the  negroes  were  still  on  the 
ground  and  ready  to  work  the  land ;  and  the  community  was 
no  poorer  for  the  change. 

Was  this  enormous  expenditure  of  life,  treasure,  and  national 
forces  worth  while?  Yes,  for  it  did  several  vital  things:  (i)  It 
taught  forever  the  lesson  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  peace- 
able secession,  for  we  are  now  sure  that  any  future  attempt 
at  secession  would  at  once  lead  to  war.  (2)  It  proved  once  for 
all  that  slavery  is  an  institution  that  weakens  the  economic 
and  social  forces  of  a  country ;  for  example,  the  South  was  de- 
prived of  the  use  in  the  field  of  a  third  of  its  able-bodied  men. 

(3)  It  opened  to  four  million  negroes  the  opportunity  to  prove 
what  they  could  do  for  themselves  if  they  had  a  fair  chance. 

(4)  It  proved  the  courage  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  both  North  and  South  —  all  the  people, 
not  soldiers  merely,  but  men,  women,  and  children.     (5)  It  put 
an  end  to  the  project  of  dividing  the  strength  and  influence  of 
the  United  States  between  two  federations.     One  Union,  one 
government,  one  nation,  one  country  —  that  was  the  result. 

The  war  was  worth  what  it  cost,  because  it  led  at  last  to  a 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  all  men,  and  to  an  understanding 
that  all  alike  are  citizens  of  one  great  and  enduring  country. 
It  benefited  the  South  as  much  as  the  North,  by  setting  it  free 
from  the  cramping,  wasteful,  and  undesirable  system  of  slavery. 

311.  REVIEW 

Both  the  Union  and  the  Confederate  governments  during 
the  war  went  far  beyond  the  ordinary  law  by  authorizing  the 
arrest  of  civilians,  imprisonment  without  trial,  or  trial  by  a 
military  commission.  These  methods  seemed  necessary  against 
secret  societies  in  sympathy  with  the  Confederacy.  Draft 
riots  in  New  York  were  put  down  by  military  force.  The 
Confederate  government  used  similar  dictatorial  methods. 

Both  the  North  and  the  South  tried  to  influence  European 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST. — 30 


482  Civil  Side  of  the  War 

governments.  Several  difficulties  arose  with  England,  espe- 
cially the  British  proclamation  of  neutrality,  the  Trent  affair, 
and  the  disposition  to  recognize  the  Confederacy.  Recogni- 
tion was  prevented  largely  by  the  attitude  of  the  British 
workmen. 

To  support  the  war,  heavy  taxes  were  laid  by  Congress, 
paper  money  was  issued,  and  a  new  system  of  national  banks 
was  chartered.  The  South  borrowed  what  it  could  and  issued 
great  quantities  of  government  paper  notes. 

Congress  passed  many  acts  relating  to  slaves  and  fugitives, 
including  two  confiscation  acts  and  emancipation  acts  for  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories.  Several  Union 
generals  tried  to  set  slaves  free;  but  President  Lincoln  took 
over  that  question  and  issued  two  proclamations  of  emanci- 
pation, and  most  of  the  loyal  border  states  passed  emancipa- 
tion acts.  Large  numbers  of  negro  troops  were  raised. 

In  both  North  and  South,  the  war  came  close  home  to  civil- 
ians through  their  interest  in  the  soldiers  and  prisoners.  Union 
governments  were  formed  in  several  of  the  seceded  states,  and 
Lincoln  was  making  plans  for  adjusting  the  problems  arising 
from  the  war  when  he  was  assassinated.  The  war  cost  about 
600,000  lives  and  $5,000,000,000 ;  but  it  restored  the  country. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Hosmer,  Appeal  to  Arms,  204.  —  Shepherd, 
Hist.  Atlas,  206.  —  See  also  references  to  ch.  xxvi. 

Secondary.  Adams,  C.  F.  Adams,  chs.  ix-xvii.  —  Cambridge  Mod. 
Hist.,  VII.  chs.  xviii,  xix.  — Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  279-285.  —  Curry, 
Govt.  of  the  Confed.  States,  chs.  v-viii.  —  Dewey,  Finan.  Hist.,  §§  117- 
140.  —  Dodd,  Expansion  and  Conflict,  281-293,  3°4>  3°5>  309-328; 
Jefferson  Davis,  chs.  xv-xxi.  —  Fish,  Am.  Dipl.,  304-323.  —  File,  Social 
and  Indust.  Conditions.  —  Hapgood,  Abraham  Lincoln,  201-419.  — 
Hart,  S.  P.  Chase,  211-318.  —  Hosmer,  Appeal  to  Arms,  chs.  ii,  xiv, 
xx ;  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  chs.  i,  iv,  viii,  ix,  xiii,  xv,  xvi. — 
McCall,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  chs.  viii-xiii.  —  Morse,  Lincoln,  I.  272-298, 
368-387,  II.  1-30,  95-133,  170-275,  286-327,  341-357-  —  Nicolay  and 
Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  IV-X  passim.  —  Paxson,  Civil  War,  72-222 


References  and  Topics  483 

passim.  —  Rhodes,  U.S.,  III-V  passim.  —  Schouler,    U.S.,  VI  passim. 

—  Schwab,  Confed.  States.  —  Wilson,  Am:  People,  IV.  214-312  passim. 
Sources.     Am.  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1861-1865.  —  Am.  Hist.  Leaf- 
lets, nos.  1 8,  26.  —  Avary,  Va.  Girl  in  the  Civil  War.  —  Brooks,  Wash- 
ington in  Lincoln's  Time.  —  Carpenter,  Six  Months  at  the  White  House. 

—  Chesnut,  Diary  from  Dixie.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  IV.  §§  75-83, 
96-101,  124-131;    Patriots  and  Statesmen,  V.  307-342;    Source  Book, 
§§  118,  120,  124,  126.  —  Hill,  Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xxii.  — Johnson,  Read- 
ings,  §§  153-169. —Johnston,    Am.  Orations,   IV.  51-148.  —  Lincoln, 
Works  passim. 

Illustrative.  Alcott,  Hospital  Sketches.  —  Browne,  Artemus  Ward: 
His  Book;  Artemus  Ward:  His  Travels.  —  De  Forest,  Miss  Ravenel's 
Conversion.  —  Dickinson,  What  Answer?  (draft  riots).  —  Harris,  On 
the  Plantation.  —  Harrison,  The  Car/y/cs^j^IIolmes,  In  War  Time.  — 
Howe,  Memory  of  Lincoln  (poems).  —  Lowell,  Biglow  Papers  (2d.  ser.) ; 
Commemoration  Ode.  —  Trowbridge,  Cudjo's  Cave.  —  Thruston,  Called 
to  the  Field.  — •  Whittier,  Antislavery  Poems,  219-258. 

Pictures.  Frank  Leslie's  Weekly.  —  Harper's  Weekly.  —  Harper's 
Monthly.  —  Mentor,  serial  no.  52.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  IV. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 
(i)  Draft  riots  in  New  York.  [§  300]  —  (2)  Incidents  of  the  Con- 
federate government  at  Richmond.  [§  301]  —  (3)  Charles  Francis 
Adams  as  minister  to  England.  [§  302]  —  (4)  Capture  of  the  Trent. 
[§  302]  —  (s)  First  national  banks.  [§  303]  —  (6)  Confederate  use  of 
paper  money.  [§  303]  —  (7)  Butler,  or  Fremont,  or  Hunter,  on  freeing 
slaves.  [§  304]  —  (8)  Abraham  Lincoln :  in  the  White  House ;  or  with 
McClellan;  or  in  Cabinet  meetings;  or  in  his  relations  with  Seward;  or 
in  his  relations  with  Greeley.  [J§  305,  306]  —  (9)  Emancipation  Acts  of 
one  of  the  following  states :  West  Virginia ;  Missouri ;  Maryland. 
[§  307]  —  (I0)  Lincoln's  colonization  plan  for  the  negroes.  [§  307]  — 
(u)  Election  of  1864.  [§  307]  —  (12)  Shinplaster  fractional  currency. 
[§  308]  —  (13)  High  prices  in  the  South.  [§  308]  —  (14)  Assassination 
of  President  Lincoln.  [§  309] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(15)  Secret  societies  of  southern  sympathizers  in  the  North.  [§  300] 

—  (16)  English  workingmen  as  friends  of  the  North.  [§  302]  —  (17)  Why 
were  the  confiscation  acts  passed?  [§  304]  —  (18)  Hospitals  and  care  of 
the   wounded;    or  Sanitary    Commission;    or   Christian   Commission. 
[§  3°8]  —  (19)  Conscription  of  soldiers  in  the  South,  or  in  the  North. 
[§  3°8]  —  (20)  Was  the  South  made  poorer  by  emancipation?     [§  310] 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  UNION   (1865-1876) 
312.   SOUTHERN  WHITES 

THE  result  of  the  war  was  to  break  down  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  South.  The  government  of  the  Confederacy  at 
once  collapsed,  and  the  secession  state  organizations  were  sup- 
pressed. How  could  the  southern  people  and  their  governments 
be  restored  to  their  former  share  in  the  Union  ?  This  per- 
plexing question  included  three  issues:  the  status  of  the  in- 
dividual whites  before  the  law,  the  future  of  the  negroes,  and  the 
relations  of  the  states  to  the  Union. 

The  southern  whites  were  nearly  all  connected  with  what  the 
North  commonly  called  the  "Rebellion,"  and  therefore  the 
penalties  for  treason  were  hanging  over  them  all.  From  that 
danger,  the  military  men  were  practically  freed  by  the  terms  of 
surrender  of  Lee's  and  Johnston's  armies.  When  warrants 
were  issued  for  Lee  and  others  in  order  to  try  them  for  treason, 
General  Grant  would  not  permit  the  arrests. 

Out  of  the  many  who  had  been  civil  officers  of  the  Confed- 
eracy and  the  seceded  states,  the  only  man  actually  held  for 
treason  was  Jefferson  Davis.  Lincoln  would  probably  have 
stood  firmly  against  any  kind  of  punishment  for  the  common 
people  of  the  South,  whether  soldiers  or  civilians ;  but  Congress 
had  confiscated  the  property  of  some  of  the  leaders  (§  304) ; 
and  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  (adopted  later)  many  of 
those  who  had  taken  a  leading  part,  either  civil  or  military, 
were  excluded  from  office. 

484 


Southern  Negroes 


485 


313.  SOUTHERN  NEGROES 

At  the  end  of  the  war,  most  of  the  slaves  within  the  bound- 
aries of  the  United  States  had  been  declared  free  by  one  or  an- 
other of  the  following  methods :  (i)  Congress  prohibited  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories  (§  304).  (2) 
The  President  emancipated  the  slaves  in  the  eleven  seceded 
states,  except  Tennessee  and  certain  counties  of  Louisiana  and 
Virginia  (§  306).  (3)  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  and  Missouri 
passed  immediate  or  gradual  emancipation  acts  for  themselves 
(§  3°7)-  (4)  The  loyal  governments  of  Louisiana,  Virginia,  and 
Arkansas  (§  309)  adopted  constitutions  that  freed  the  slaves; 
and  Tennessee  in  1865  passed  a  special  emancipation  act.  That 
left  Delaware  and  Kentucky  the  only  areas  in  which  slavery 
was  still  legal  in  April,  1865. 


EMANCIPATION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION. 

For  the  thousands  of  negroes  who  had  left  their  old  homes 
and  flocked  into  the  Union  camps,  Congress  passed  an  act 
for  a  Freedmen's  Bureau  (March  3,  1865),  which  was  intended, 
through  military  officers,  to  protect  the  negroes  from  injustice, 


486  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

to  find  work  for  them,  to  keep  them  from  starving,  and  to  start 
schools  for  their  education.  This  bureau  was  taking  a  limited 
responsibility  for  individuals  within  the  states,  which  the 
United  States  government  had  never  before  attempted. 

To  prevent  any  question  that  the  former  slaves  were  forever 
)  free,  a  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  carried 
through  both  houses  of  Congress  (January,  1865)  by  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  President  Lincoln,  who  said  in  a  public  speech, 
"It  winds  the  whole  thing  up."  Three  fourths  of  all  the  states, 
through  their  legislatures,  ratified  this  amendment,  which 
became  a  part  of  the  Constitution,  December  18,  1865.  It  pro- 
vided that  "Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except 
as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been 
duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction."  This  amendment  made  free- 
dom the  only  legal  condition  in  all  the  United  States.  The 
slaves  in  Kentucky  and  Delaware  were  set  free  by  it  against 
the  will  of  their  masters.  Thenceforth  it  was  out  of  the  power 
of  any  state  to  set  slavery  up  again.  Whatever  else  the  war 
did,  it  put  an  end  to  legal  slavery  forever. 

314.  THEORIES  OF  STATE  RECONSTRUCTION  (1865-1866) 

The  question  of  the  eleven  states  which  had  tried  to  withdraw 
from  the  Union  was  the  most  difficult  of  all.  Did  they  at  once 
come  back  into  their  former  place?  Would  they  still  have 
"all  the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the  states  unimpaired," 
as  set  forth  by  the  resolution  of  1861  (§  283)  ?  If  so,  their  sena- 
tors and  representatives  would  help  to  settle  their  own  future. 
The  northern  theory  of  the  war  from  first  to  last  was  that  the 
states  always  remained  in  the  Union  and  could  not  get  out  of  it ; 
that  secession  simply  had  not  occurred ;  that  the  whole  trouble 
was  made  by  certain  individuals  who  traitorously  resisted  the 
United  States,  on  the  unfounded  claim  that  their  states  so 
ordered.  Yet,  at  the  end  of  the  war  the  individuals  went 
practically  unpunished ;  while  the  seceded  states,  as  political 


Theories  of  State  Reconstruction  487 

communities,  for  years  were  not  allowed  to  resume  their  pre- 
vious relations  to  the  Union.  Even  after  furnishing  eight  of 
the  twenty-seven  ratifications  needed  to  carry  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment  (§  313),  they  were  held  to  be  not  really  in  the 
Union,  not  capable  of  sending  members  to  Congress  nor  of  tak- 
ing part  in  an  election  for  President. 

Four  main  theories  were  put  forth  to  explain  this  singular 
state  of  things  and  to  provide  a  method  of  "reconstructing" 
the  southern  states:  (i)  The  "presidential  theory,"  held  by 
Lincoln,  was  that  the  states  were  entitled  to  come  back  and 
send  members  to  Congress,  as  soon  as  the  President  decided 
that  they  had  repented.  (2)  The  "state  suicide  theory,'1-- 
urged  by  Charles  Sumner,  was  that  by  secession  the  states  lost 
statehood  and  became  territories.  (3)  The  "conquered  prov- 
inces theory,"  for  which  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  responsible, 
was  that  Congress  could  deal  with  the  South  exactly  as  if  it 
were  a  part  of  a  conquered  foreign  country;  it  was  even  sug- 
gested that  South  Carolina  be  divided  between  Georgia  and 
North  Carolina  and  thus  be  obliterated  from  the  map.  (4)  The 
"forfeited  rights  theory"  was  that  the  states  still  existed  and 
were  members  of  the  Union,  but  through  their  traitorous  acts, 
acting  as  a  community,  had  made  themselves  subject  to  some 
punishment  which  would  reach  them  as  states. 

The  first  theory  to  be  applied  was  the  presidential,  which 
after  Lincoln's  death  was  carried  on  by  Andrew  Johnson,  who 
succeeded  to  the  presidency.  Though  a  southern  man,  he  was  a 
mountain  white  and  hated  the  planters.  By  an  amnesty  proc- 
lamation (May  29, 1865)  Johnson  undertook  to  shut  out  the  old 
southern  leaders,  and  to  leave  the  poor  whites  to  form  new  state 
governments.  Accordingly,  during  the  year  1865,  while  Congress 
was  not  in  session,  Johnson  appointed  civil  governors  for  the 
southern  states.  These  governors  called  constitutional  conven- 
tions, which  formed  antislavery  constitutions,  and  new  elections 
were  then  held  for  members  of  Congress,  and  governors,  and  for 
legislatures  which  chose  United  States  senators.  In  December, 


488  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

1865,    members-elect   appeared    from   all    the   seceded    states 
except  Texas,  and  demanded  seats  in  Congress. 

315.   RECONSTRUCTION  BY  CONGRESS  (1866-1867) 

Unfortunately  for  the  South,  some  of  the  states  passed  stat- 
utes on  "vagrancy"  and  "labor  contracts"  which  made  the 
negro  field  hands  subject  to  masters  for  terms  of  many  months. 
The  North  believed  that  if  those  states  were  left  to  themselves 
they  would  after  a  few  years  re'jnslave  the  negro ;  and  that  if 
their  members  were  admitted  to  Congress,  a  large  part  of  the 
work  of  the  Civil  War  would  be  undone.  Congress,  therefore, 
took  the  question  of  reconstruction  into  its  own  hands  by  a 
joint  resolution  of  both  houses  (March-  2,  1866)  to  the  effect 
that  neither  house  would  admit  senators  or  representatives 
from  a  seceding -state,  until  Congress  as  a  whole  should  decide 
that  the  state  was  again  to  be  represented. 

President  Johnson's  plan  of  reconstruction  was  thus  quite 
set  aside.  He  was  a  coarse,  blustering  man,  who  did  not  know 
how  to  get  on  with  other  people,  who  had  no  powerful  friends, 
and  who  was  not  trusted  by  the  antislavery  people.  The  Re- 
publican leaders  were  backed  by  a  two- thirds  majority  in  both 
branches  of  Congress,  and  openly  broke  with  the  President 
by  passing  over  his  veto  a  Civil  Rights  Act  (April  9),  which 
placed  the  negroes  under  the  protection  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment. 

In  order  to  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  a  later  Congress  to  give 
up  the  principles  of  the  Civil  Rights  Act,  the  two  houses  in  1866 
submitted  the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  The  main  principles 
of  this  amendment  are  four:  (i)  For  the  protection  of  the 
negro,  all  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States 
are  declared  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  also  of  the 
state  in  which  they  reside;  and  states  are  forbidden  to  "de- 
prive any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  pro- 
cess of  law,"  or  to  "abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of 
citizens  of  the  United  States."  Thus  a  great  field  of  power 


Motives  of  Reconstruction  489 

over  persons  was  transferred  from  the  states  to  Congress.  (2) 
In  order  to  favor  negrcw-suffrage,  any  states  which  cut  off  adult 
male  citizens  from  voting,  were  to  lose  part  of  their  representa- 
tion in  Congress.  (3)  To  punish  the  leaders  in  the  Confederacy, 
many  of  them  were  excluded  frordstate^r  national  office  (§312). 
(4)  To  set  a  stigma  forever  on  secession,  the  Confederate  and 
state  debts  incurred  "in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  United  States"  were  declared  void. 

In  a  formal  Reconstruction  Act  (March  2,  1867)  Congress 
passed  over  the  "state  suicide  theory,"  and  accepted  a  com- 
promise between  the  "conquered  provinces"  and  "forfeited 
rights"  theories  (§  314),  by  providing  that  the  seceded  states 
before  they  could  come  back  into  the  Union  must  frame  new 
constitutions,  must  give  the  negro  the  suffrage,  and  must  ratify 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment  and  thereby  consent  to  punish 
their  own  leaders. 

316.   MOTIVES  or  RECONSTRUCTION  (1866-1869) 

These  were  harsh  terms,  and  it  has  often  been  charged 
that  their  purpose  was  to  crush  the  South  and  put  the  intelli- 
gent people  there  under  control  of  the  most  ignorant  part  of 
the  population.  Perhaps  that  was  the  motive  of  the  man  most 
responsible  for  the  measure,  Thaddeus  Stevens  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  a  lawyer  who  went  into  politics  as  a  Whig,  and  declared 
that  he  was  hostile  to  slavery  "in  every  form  and  place."  When 
the  war  broke  out,  Stevens  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  and  legislative  leader  of  the  House.  When 
people  talked  about  the  Constitution,  he  said  in  the  House, 
"I  hold  that  none  of  the  states  now  in  rebellion  are  entitled 
to  the  protection  of  the  Constitution."  Stevens  was  one  of 
the  best  debaters  who  ever  sat  in  Congress,  but  he  was  abso- 
lutely one-sided  in  politics  and  thought  everybody  on  the 
other  side  a  scoundrel.  He  was  strongly  in  favor  of  emanci- 
pation, not  so  much  to  help  the  slaves  as  to  hurt  the  slaveholders ; 
and  he  insisted  on  enlisting  negroes  in  the  army,  for  he  said : 


49°  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

"The  only  place  where  they  can  find  equality  is  in  the  grave. 
There  all  God's  children  are  equal. "  He  favored  negro  suffrage 
because  it  would  "continue  the  Republican  ascendancy." 

Most  northern  people,  though  they  felt  that  secession  was 
a  crime,  were  willing  to  let  the  states  come  back  into  the  Union, 
and  to  allow  the  South  to  recover  its  prosperity,  if  they  could 
be  sure  that  the  negroes  would  have  a  fair  chance.  This  point 
of  view  was  represented  in  the  Supreme  Court,  which  was 
much  altered  by  President  Lincoln's  appointment  of  five  new 
judges  under  the  leadership  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  former 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  Court  made  a  series  of  de- 
cisions on  the  war  and  reconstruction  (1866  to  1869),  in  which 
the  right  of  the  Union  to  make  war  on  rebellious  states  was  af- 
firmed, and  the  right  of  Congress  to  reconstruct  such  states 
after  the  war  was  supported.  In  the  famous  Texas  vs.  White 
case  (1869)  the  court  dwelt  on  "an  indestructible  Union  com- 
posed of  indestructible  States."  As  for  individuals,  Chief 
Justice  Chase  held  that  the  usual  penalties  for  treason  were 
superseded  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  and  Jefferson 
Davis  was  therefore  set  free  after  two  years  of  imprisonment. 

317.   PROCESS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  (1867-1871) 

While  the  southern  states  were  reorganizing,  they  remained 
under  the  authority  of  military  commanders,  who  vetoed  laws, 
removed  civil  governors,  dismissed  legislatures,  issued  orders 
where  the  legislatures  did  not  pass  acts,  made  ordinances  for 
the  cities,  and  in  general  exercised  many  of  the  powers  of  des- 
potism. Yet,  with  few  exceptions,  they  were  moderate  and 
just  rulers.  Reconstruction  under  the  acts  of  Congress  was  a 
slow  process.  Members  of  Congress  from  Tennessee  were 
readmitted  in  1867,  from  six  more  states  in  1868,  from  Virginia, 
Mississippi,  and  Texas  in  1870;  Georgia,  the  last  of  the  eleven 
seceding  States,  after  being  twice  set  back,  was  at  last  allowed 
to  reenter  the  complete  Union  in  1871.  Several  of  the  border 
states,  though  not  covered  by  the  Reconstruction  Act,  went 


Quarrel  with  President  Johnson  491 

into  the  hands  of  Republican  majorities,  who  disfranchised 
former  Confederates.  By  ratifications  of  twenty  northern  states 
and  ten  southern  states,  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was  de- 
clared (July  28,  1868)  to  be  a  part  of  the  Constitution. 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  allowed  to  lapse  in  1869 ;  but, 
in  order  to  put  negro  suffrage  out  of  the  control  of  the  southern 
states,  a  Fifteenth  Amendment  was  framed  by  Congress  (1868). 
It  forbade  any  state  to  withhold  the  suffrage  on  account  of  "race, 
color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude."  It  was  duly  ratified 
by  the  aid  of  reconstructed  legislatures  and  became  a  part  of 
the  Constitution  (March  30,  1870). 

When  the  southern  states  were  fully  restored,  the  adult  negro 
men  had  the  suffrage.  Every  legislature  had  negro  members, 
and  some  of  them  a  negro  majority.  Most  of  these  negroes 
were  ignorant  men  who  were  controlled  by  two  classes  of  whites, 
called  "scalawags"  (southern  Republicans)  and  "carpetbag- 
gers" (northern  men  who  had  gone  to  the  South  to  get  into 
politics).  Taxes  were  increased,  debts  ran  up,  and  the  extrav- 
agance and  corruption  of  some  of  the  legislatures  surpass 
belief.  The  state  debt  of  Alabama  swelled  from  $8,000,000 
to  $25,000,000  in  six  years;  the  South  Carolina  legislature 
spent  $350,000  in  one  session  for  "supplies,  sundries,  'and 
incidentals."  These  losses  came  on  states  already  impoverished 
by  four  years  of  war  —  states  in  which  almost  the  whole  com- 
munity, white  and  black,  was  poor  and  struggling. 

318.  QUARREL  WITH  PRESIDENT  JOHNSON  (1866-1868) 

Several  efforts  were  made  to  induce  the  Supreme  Court  to 
stop  the  course  of  the  reconstruction  acts  passed  by  Congress, 
by  a  judicial  decision,  but  the  court  refused  to  interfere.  Presi- 
dent Johnson  therefore  felt  bound  to  carry  out  most  of  these 
laws.  Meantime  he  was  engaged  in  a  violent  quarrel  with  Con- 
gress and  tried  to  arouse  public  sentiment  by  coarse  and  abusive 
speeches,  especially  during  the  political  campaign  of  1866, 
when  he  said,  "We  have  seen  hanging  upon  the  verge  of  the 


49  2  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

Government,  as  it  were,  a  body  called,  or  which  assumes  to  be, 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States." 

He  did  himself  more  harm  than  good ;  for  in  1866  a  Republican 
and  anti- Johnson  two-thirds  majority  was  again  elected  to  both 
houses  of  Congress.  Johnson  kept  up  the  fight  by  vetoing  in 
all  21  bills,  15  of  which  were  carried  over  his  veto.  He  also 
tried-  to  head  the  Democratic  party  —  just  at  that  time  called 
Conservatives.  The  Republican  House  of  Representatives  went 
so  far  as  to  present  articles  of  impeachment  against  President 
Johnson  (1868),  and  the  trial  before  the  Senate  lasted  over  two 
months.  Discarding  many  trifling  charges,  the  managers  se- 
lected for  a  test  vote  the  charge  that  Johnson  had  tried  to  re- 
move Secretary  Stan  ton,  contrary  to  a  Tenure  of  Office  Act 
which  had  been  passed  over  his  veto.  Thirty-five  senators  (all 
Republicans)  voted  for  conviction ;  nineteen  senators  (twelve 
Democrats  and  seven  Republicans)  voted  for  acquittal.  The 
impeachment  failed,  though  a  change  of  one  vote  would  have 
made  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote.  There  is  now  no  doubt 
that  the  dissenting  Republican  senators  saved  the  country 
from  the  dangerous  precedent  of  removing  a  President  because 
he  differed  with  and  quarreled  with  Congress. 

319.   SEWARD'S  FOREIGN  POLICY  (1861-1869) 

.     During  the  Civil  War,   the  United  States  found  itself  in 
several  difficulties  which  were  settled  after  peace  came : 

(i)  Mexico.  The  first  of  these  was  caused  by  a  French  oc- 
cupation of  Mexico.  Napoleon  III,  emperor  of  the  French, 
took  advantage  of  the  embarrassment  of  the  Union  in  1861  to 
send  an  expedition  to  collect  damages  from  Mexico,  and  ex- 
tende:!  it  into  a  war  of  conquest.  A  French  army  set  up  what 
they  called  an  Empire,  with  Maximilian,  an  Austrian  archduke, 
as  emperor  (1864).  This  occupation  of  Mexico  was  very  offen- 
sive to  the  United  States;  and  Secretary  Seward  many  times 
warned  the  French  not  to  force  a  monarchical  government  on 
an  American  republic.  At  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  a  large 


Seward's  Foreign  Policy  493 

force  of  Union  troops  was  sent  to  Texas,  as  a  hint  to  the  un- 
desirable invaders  across  the  Mexican  boundary.  Seward's 
firmness  compelled  the  French  to  withdraw  in  1867.  Maxi- 
milian was  taken  prisoner  by  his  subjects,  and  shot ;  and  that 
was  the  end  of  the  Empire  of  Mexico. 

(2)  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies.     Another  group 
of  foreign  questions  related  td  the  Isthmus  route  to  California 
and  to  a  naval  station  in  the  West  Indies.     Secretary  Seward 
made  treaties  with  Honduras  and  Nicaragua,  looking  toward 
a  canal.     Then  he  turned  to  the  West  Indies,  and  pressed  upon 
the  Danish  government  a  treaty  of  purchase  for  the  little 
islands  of  St.  Thomas  and  St.  John  (1867) ;   but  the  Senate  de- 
clined to  ratify  the  treaty,  in  which  there  was  little  public  in- 
terest.    Then  he  tried  hard  to  annex  Samana  Bay  in  the  island 
republic  of  Santo  Domingo  —  but  the  Senate  would  not  listen. 

(3)  Alaska.     Another  project  of  annexation  was  successful. 
Russia,  during  the  Civil  War,  had  been  extremely  friendly; 
and  when  it  became  known  that  Russia  would  like  to  dispose 
of  Russian  America,  Seward  surprised  the  whole  country  by 


ALASKA. 


494  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

arranging  a  treaty  for  the  purchase  of  the  whole  region  for 
$7,200,000;  and  it  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  (April  9,  1867). 
People  knew  very  little  about  the  region,  which  is  now  named 
Alaska;  but  it  comprised  half  a  million  square  miles  of  land, 
a  valuable  seal  fishery,  and  a  rich  gold-mining  region. 

320.   GRANT  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  (1869-1873) 

The  presidential  election  of  1868  gave  the  approval  of  the 
majority  of  the  actual  voters  to  the  Congressional  plan  of  re- 
construction. The  Republicans  nominated  General  Grant; 
the  Democrats  put  up  Horatio  Seymour  of  New  York..  Two 
of  the  eight  states  just  readmitted  to  the  Union  voted  for  Sey- 
mour, but  Grant  received  214  electoral  votes  to  80,  and  a 
popular  majority  of  300,000. 

President  Grant  came  into  office  in  March,  1869,  and  had 
a  stormy  administration.  He  was  absolutely  honest  and  truth- 
ful and  a  sincerely  patriotic  man,  but  he  had  an  unwaver- 
ing  belief  in  those  whom  he  selected  as  friends.  He  wanted  to 
give  orders  himself ;  and  his  friends  made  him  believe  that  he  was 
essential  to  the  salvation  of  the  country.  Like  General  Jackson, 
Grant  made  a  vigorous  fight  for  the  rights  of  the  President; 
and  he  used  his  veto  power  forty-three  times,  principally  against 
special  pension  and  relief  bills.'  Grant  was  the  first  President 
after  John  Quincy  Adams  who  desired  a  nonpartisan  civil 
service.  He  was  opposed  to  the  practice  of  removing  the  civil 
officers  of  the  government,  down  to  floor  scrubbers,  every  time 
a  new  President  came  in  ;  and  he  induced  Congress  in  1871  to 
pass  a  civil  service  reform  act.  He  tried  to  carry  it  out  in  good 
faith,  till  Congress  three  years  later  cut  off  the  appropriations 
and  the  scheme  collapsed. 

Throughout  Grant's  first  administration  (1869-1873)  recon- 
struction was  dragging  along.  The  South  was  protesting  against 
the  carpetbag  governments,  and  many  northern  Democrats 
.  proposed  to  wipe  out  the  three  amendments  if  they  could  come 
into  control  of  the  national  government.  Within  five  years  after 


Failure  of  Reconstruction  495 

the  last  of  the  states  was  readmitted  (§317),  something  very  like 
a  "second  rebellion"  arose;  and  the  result  was  that  three  of 
the  main  principles  of  reconstruction  ceased  to  work. 

321.  FAILURE  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  (1869-1874) 

The  failure  of  reconstruction  included  the  defeat  of  all  three 
of  the  main  objects  of  the  whole  system  of  severe  laws,  and 
also  a  serious  limitation  of  negro  suffrage  in  the  lower  South. 

(1)  The  very  moderate  punishment  of  individuals  under  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  (§  315)  ceased;  for  Congress  used  its 
power  to  pass  an  amnesty  act  (1872)  by  which  all  but  about 
three  hundred  former  Confederate  leaders  were  restored  to  politi- 
cal rights.     Many  of  those  excepted  were  restored  by  special 
acts,  but  none  ever  reached  Jefferson  Davis  or  Robert  E.  Lee. 

(2)  The  punishment  of  the  states  came  to  an  end  when  they    X 
were  admitted  to  their  former  full  share  in  the  Union. 

(3)  The  special  protection  of  the  negro,  supposed  to  be  em- 
bedded in  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  was  much  weakened  by 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  ruled  (1869)  that  the 
amendment  was  not  "intended  to  bring  within  the  power  of 
Congress  the  entire  domain  of  civil  rights,  heretofore  belonging 
exclusively  to  the  states."     Congress  then  passed  a  Civil  Rights 
Act  (1875)  to  give  the  negroes  the  same  privileges  as  white 
people  in  hotels,  railroad  cars,  and  so  on  ;  but  it  was  some  years 
later  held  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

(4)  Negro  suffrage  was  broken  up  in  many  states  by  violence, 
through  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  movement  (begun  in  1868).     Young 
men,  masked  and  disguised,  rode  about  the  country  at  night, 
threatening  the  negroes,  and  dragging  out  and  whipping  or 
even  shooting  their  leaders.     White  men  also,  especially  the 
"carpetbaggers,"  were  terrorized  and  sometimes  driven  out. 
Congress  in  vain  attempted  to  protect  the  negroes  by  the 
"Force  Bills"  of  1870  and  1871,  under  which  the  President 
had  authority  to  send  troops  to  protect  the  polling  places  in 
the  South. 


496 


Reconstruction  of  the  Union 


The  Ku-Klux  Klan  gave  the  Republicans  a  new  campaign 
issue  for  the  presidential  election  of  1872.  The  Democrats 
combined  with  the  Liberal  Republicans  (an  anti-Grant  organi- 
zation) to  nominate  Horace  Greeley,  the  old-time  abolitionist 
and  hater  of  the  Democratic  party.  Grant  was  easily  reelected 

by  the  Republi- 
cans by  286  elec- 
toral votes  to  63 ; 
and  he  had  a  pop- 
ular majority  of 
700,000. 

In  the  South 
the  effort  of  the 
Democrats  to  get 
the  state  govern- 

ELECTION  OF  1872.  ments   out   of   the 

hands  of  the  car- 
petbaggers" brought  about  several  little  civil  wars,  especially 
in  Louisiana,  where  for  weeks  two  legislatures,  each  support- 
ing a  governor,  sat  in  halls  a  few  squares  from  each  other. 
The  whole  "country  was  weary  of  the  squabbles.  In  the  so- 
called  "tidal  wave"  of  congressional  elections  in  1874,  a  large 
number  of  Democratic  members  were  elected  to  the  House 
from  the  South.  From  that  time  nearly  all  the  negroes  in 
the  lower  South  were  prevented  by  persuasion,  or  fraud,  or 
force,  or  by  new  state  constitutions  from  influencing  any  south- 
ern election  where  their  vote  could  affect  the  result ;  in  the 
former  border  states,  and  in  Texas  and  Tennessee,  they  con- 
tinued to  vote  till  after  1890.  The  white  voters,  under  their 
war-time  leaders,  were  again  in  the  saddle. 

322.   PUBLIC  FINANCE  (1865-1875) 

Besides  the  political  reconstruction  of  individuals  and  states, 
the  finances  of  the  federal  government  and  of  the  northern  and 
southern  states  had  to  be  reorganized. 


Public  Finance  497 

Both  South  and  North  came  out  of  the  war  with  very  heavy 
public  debts.  The  Fourteenth  Amendment  disposed  of  the 
Confederate  debts,  and  also  of  debts  contracted  by  seceding 
states  in  aid  of  the  war,  by  providing  that  they  should  never 
be  paid  (§  315).  The  southern  states,  under  the  lead  of  the 
"carpetbag"  legislatures,  issued  a  new  set  of  bonds  for  bor- 
rowed money ;  but  some  of  the  bonds  were  fraudulent,  and  sev- 
eral states,  including  Virginia,  simply  refused  to  pay  this  debt. 

The  northern  state  governments  were  more  prudent  and 
by  1885  they  owed,  taken  together,  only  about  $100,000,000. 
On  the  other  hand  the  cities  of  the  North  were  borrowing  money 
right  and  left ;  and  the  result  was  that  the  total  public  debt  — 
national,  state,  and  local  —  constantly  increased.  Still  the 
country  was  growing  in  prosperity  and  wealth  and  did  not  feel 
the  burden  of  the  interest  payments. 

The  outstanding  national  debt  in  1870  was  $2,481,000,000 
and  the  local  debts  were  $270,000,000.  The  national  govern- 
ment at  once  began  to  pay  off  its  obligations.  Till  1893  every 
year  showed  a  surplus  of  receipts  over  expenses,  available 
for  that  purpose.  The  lowest  point  reached  was  $839,000,000 
net  debt  in  1893.  "Internal  revenue"  on  liquors  and  tobacco 
furnished  about  a  third  of  the  national  income,  customs  duties 
about  two  thirds ;  and  there  was  a  little  from  the  public  lands. 

A  very  serious  question  was  that  of  the  paper  money.  After 
Congress  forced  the  state  chartered  banks  to  stop  issuing  notes 
the  currency  was  made  up  of  "greenbacks"  (§  303),  national 
bank  notes,  and  paper  small  change,  for  all  of  which  the  federal 
government  took  the  responsibility.  Greenbacks  in  1865  were 
worth  about  seventy  cents  on  the  dollar,  measured  in  gold ;  by 
1871  they  rose  to  ninety  cents. 

At  first  it  was  intended  that  the  greenbacks  should  be  paid  off 
in  hard  money,  but  in  1866  there  was  a  small  commercial  panic, 
and  then  came  an  outcry  that  the  bondholders  had  paid  green- 
backs for  their  bonds,  and  ought  to  be  repaid  in  the  same  paper 
money ;  that  is,  that  the  national  debt  should  be  paid  with 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  31 


498  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

a  different  kind  of  debt.  A  political  movement  began,  called 
the  "Ohio  Idea,"  or  by  its  enemies  the  "Rag  Baby,"  which 
startle  1  Congress  into  voting  (February  4,  1868)  that  the  green- 
backs should  not  be  reduced  below  $350,000,000.  A  year  later, 
however,  Congress  voted  that  the  bonds  should  be  paid  in  "coin." 
An  effort  was  made  to  compel  Congress  to  redeem  the  green- 
backs by  showing  that  there  was  no  constitutional  power  to 
issue  them.  In  1870  the  Supreme  Court  held,  in  the  Legal  Ten- 
der cases,  by  four  judges  to  three,  that  the  greenbacks  were 
unconstitutional.  In  a  few  months  two  vacancies  occurred  in 
the  Supreme  Court;  two  new  judges  were  appointed;  and 
by  a  majority  of  five  to  four  the  court  held  greenbacks  justified 
under  the  war  power,  thus  reversing  the  previous  decision. 
Thirteen  years  later,  the  court  ruled  that  legal  tenders  could 
be  issued  at  any  time,  without  regard  to  the  war  power. 

323.   CURRENCY  QUESTIONS  (1869-1875) 

Paper  money  was  for  ten  years  the  most  difficult  question 
before  Congress. 

(1)  What  was  meant  by  "coin"  in  the  Act  of  1869?     At 
that  time  both  gold  and  silver  bullion  could  be  presented  at 
the  United  States  mint,  which  would  return  the  weight  (less 
a  small  deduction  for  coinage)  in  gold  or  silver  coin. 

(2)  In  a  long  act  on  coinage  (February  12,  1873)  a  brief  clause 
was  introduced  —  later  dubbed   the    "Crime   of    1873"  —  by 
which  the  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar  was  legally  given  up.     At 
the  time  nobody  objected,  because  no  silver  dollars  were  then  in 
circulation.     Gold  coin  was  for  five  years  the  only  coin  struck 
by  the  mint  which  could  be  offered  in  large  amounts  as  "legal 
tender  "  in  payment  of  debt.     Gold  became  by  this  act  the  legal 
standard  of  values,  in  which  greenbacks  were  to  be  redeemed. 

(3)  Instead  of  calling  in  and  paying  off  the  greenbacks,  vig- 
orous efforts  were  made  to  add  to  the  paper  currency.     A  bill 
passed  both  houses  of  Congress  (1874)  for  the  issue  of  about 
fifty  millions  more  of  greenbacks;   but  President  Grant  vetoed 


Grant's  Peace  Policy  499 

it  because  "inflation  of  the  currency"  by  issue  of  more  paper 
money  was  contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  government. 

(4)  Congress  at  last  (1875)  came  to  a  decision  to  bring  the 
greenbacks  up  to  gold  value,  and  passed  an  act  for  accumulating 
a  specie  reserve  so  as  to  be  ready  for  resuming  specie  payments. 

324.   GRANT'S  PEACE  POLICY  (1869-1877) 

Several  foreign  questions  of  great  importance  went  over  to 
Grant's  administration,  and  were  settled  under  the  influence 
of  Hamilton  Fish,  Grant's  able  Secretary  of  State.  Most  im- 
portant of  these  was  the  question  of  the  Alabama  Claims, 
which  interfered  with  good  relations  with  Great  Britain  during 
all  the  years  from  1862  to  1872.  These  were  claims  against 
Great  Britain  for  damages  of  several  kinds,  especially:  (i)  the 
recognition  of  the  belligerency  of  the  Confederacy  (§  302) ; 
(2)  captures  of  American  merchantmen  by  the  Alabama  and 
other  cruisers  built  or  fitted  out  in  British  ports  (§  286) ;  (3) 
hospitality  to  Confederate  .war  ships  in  British  ports,  and 
allowing  them  to  coal  and  refit;  (4)  "indirect  damages,"  for 
the  supposed  prolonging  of  the  war  through  British  sympathy. 

Public  feeling  ran  high  and  some  bold  spirits  clamored  for 
war.  The  heads  of  the  British  government  gradually  made 
up  their  minds  to  admit  that  a  mistake  had  been  made.  Hence 
they  agreed  to  the  Treaty  of  Washington  (May,  1871)  in  which 
Great  Britain  made  a  formal  apology  "for  the  escape,  under 
whatever  circumstances,  of  the  Alabama  and  other  vessels  from 
British  ports."  A  Commission  of  Arbitration  to  fix  the  amount 
of  the  damages  met  at  Geneva  (1872),  examined  the  evidence, 
and  adjudged  the  sum  of  $15,500,000  to  be  paid  by  Great 
Britain' to  the  United  States. 

Another  arbitration  with  Great  Britain  settled  a  long-pend- 
ing controversy  over  the  national  ownership  of  the  San  Juan 
group  of  islands  between  Vancouver  and  the  mainland ;  they 
were  awarded  to  the  United  States.  A  dispute  over  the  northern 
fisheries  led  to  a  third  arbitration  commission,  which  decided 


500 


Reconstruction  of  the  Union 


(1877)  that  for  certain 
privileges  desired  by 
American  fishermen  on 
the  coasts  of  Canada, 
for  a  period  of  ten 
years,  the  sum  of  $5,- 
500,000  should  be  paid 
by  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  lessons 
of  the  Civil  War  was 
that  the  United  States 
needed  naval  stations 
in  the  West  Indies. 
Grant  and  Fish  re- 
vived Seward's  policy 
as  to  the  negro  re- 
public of  Santo  Do- 
mingo, and  a  treaty 
of  annexation  was 
drawn  up  in  1869;  but  Senator  Charles  Sumner  of  Massachu- 
setts (§  254)  used  his  personal  influence  to  defeat  it. 

On  other  West  Indian  questions  Grant  was  more  moderate. 
In  1868  the  native  Cubans  rebelled  against  the  Spanish  rule. 
On  both  sides  it  was  a  war  of  atrocities :  the  insurgents  burned 
the  sugar  plantations ;  the  Spaniards  shot  the  insurgents  like 
wild  beasts.  Our  government  remained  neutral  and  tried  to 
prevent  filibusters  (§  256)  from  slipping  over  to  aid  the  Cubans. 
In  1873  the  filibustering  steamer  Virginius  was  captured  by  a 
Spanish  cruiser  and  eight  Americans  were  shot.  There  would 
have  been  war  but  that  President  Grant  was  determined  to 
have  peace,  and  the  Spanish  government  made  due  amends. 

325.   REVIEW 

Though  the  Civil  War  lasted  only  four  years,  it  took  eight 
years  more  to  restore  the  Union.  The  main  difficulties  were: 


GRANT'S  TOMB,  NEW  YORK. 


Review  501 

(i)  The  southern  whites.  Should  they  be  punished  for  their 
share  in  the  war?  (2)  The  negroes,  who  were  set  free  as  the 
result  of  the  war.  What  would  become  of  them?  (3)  The 
seceded  states.  Were  they  already  in  the  Union  or  must  they 
be  brought  back  by  a  new  process? 

Congress  refused  to  accept  its  former  doctrine  that  the  states 
had  never  been  out  of  the  Union,  and  eventually  passed  several 
acts  under  which  those  states  had  to  allow  the  negroes  to  take 
part  in  public  affairs.  Those  men  who  had  been  most  active 
in  the  Confederacy  were  excluded  from  public  office,  but  no 
one  was  tried  for  treason. 

Congress  sought  to  make  the  results  of  the  war  permanent 
by  submitting  three  constitutional  amendments:  (i)  the 
Thirteenth  (1865),  forever  prohibiting  slavery;  (2)  the  Four- 
teenth (1868),  intended  to  make  the  negroes  citizens  and  to 
protect  them  in  personal  rights;  (3)  the  Fifteenth  (1870), 
protecting  negro  suffrage.  Some  of  the  southern  states  came 
under  the  influence  of  "carpetbaggers"  and  "scalawags"  who 
could  control  the  negro  vote.  When  President  Johnson  set 
himself  against  Congress  he  was  all  but  impeached  by  the  Senate. 

Secretary  Seward  initiated  a  policy  of  influence  and  expansion 
by  causing  the  French  to  leave  Mexico ;  by  attempting  annexa- 
tions in  the  West  Indies ;  and  by  securing  Alaska  (1867). 

General  Grant  became' President  in  1869,  and  tried  to  reform 
the  administration.  Reconstruction  broke  down  because  the 
Supreme  Court  took  the  pith  out  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
by  its  decisions;  and  the  organization  known  as  the  Ku- 
Klux  Klan  prevented  the  negroes  from  voting.  Most  of  the 
southern  states  went  over  to  the  Democratic  party. 

The  Confederate  and  southern  state  debts  were  shut  out, 
but  the  Union  carried  a  heavy  public  debt.  The  greenbacks 
were  continued,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  pay  off  the  bonds  in 
that  currency.  Silver  ceased  to  be  coined  by  an  act  of  1873. 
President  Grant  was  successful  in  settling  the  claims  against 
Great  Britain,  and  pursued  a  policy  of  peace. 


502  Reconstruction  of  the  Union 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

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Econ.  Hist.,  389.  —  Dunning,  Reconstruction,  4,  82,  114,  158. 

Secondary.  Adams,  C.  F.  Adams,  ch.  xix.  —  Bancroft,  W.  H. 
Seward,  II.  419-500.  —  Bassett,  U.S.,  594-652,  660-664,  668-674,  782- 
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vii-xi.  —  Dewey,  Finan.  Hist.,  §§  142-158,  163-170.  —  Fish,  Am. 
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John  Vane  '  (Washington).  —  Glasgow,  Voice  of  the  People.  —  Hale, 
Mrs.  Merriam's  Scholars.  —  Locke,  Struggles  of  Petroleum  V.  Nasby.  — 
Lowell,  Biglow  Papers  (2d.  ser.).  —  Page,  Red  Rock.  —  Thanet,  Expia- 
tion. —  Tourgee,  Fool's  Errand;  Bricks  without  Straw. 

Pictures.     Andrews,  Last  Quarter  Century.  —  Frank  Leslie's  Weekly. 

—  Harper's  Weekly.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  V. 

Topics  Answerable  from  References  Above 

(i)  Robert  E.  Lee,  or  General  Grant,  or  Jefferson  Davis,  in  recon- 
struction. [§  312]  —  (2)  Debates  on  the  Thirteenth,  or  Fourteenth,  or 
Fifteenth  Amendment.  [§§  313,  315,  317]  —  (3)  Public  career  of  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  [§  316]  —  (4)  Process  of  reconstruction  of  any  one  of  the  eleven 
seceding  states.  [§  317]  —  (5)  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson.  [§  318] 

—  (6)  Incidents  of  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  movement.  [§  321]  — (7)  Incidents 
of  the  Geneva  arbitration.  [§  324]  —  (.8)  San  Juan  Islands.  [§  324]  , 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(9)  The  Freedmen's  Bureau.  [§  313]  —  (10)  Why  did  Congress  break 
with  President  Johnson?  [§  315]  —  (n)  Why  did  the  French  leave 
Mexico?  [§  319]  —  (12)  Why  did  Russia  sell  Alaska?  [§  319]  —  (13)  Rival 
governments  in  Louisiana,  or  Arkansas.  [§  321]  —  (14)  Greenback 
movement.  [§  322]  —  (15)  Resumption  of  specie  payments.  [§  323] 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   CHANGES   (1865-1885) 
326.  NEW  CONDITIONS 

WHILE  political  reconstruction  was  going  on  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  was  slowly  returning  to  the  former 
condition  of  a  Union  including  all  the  states,  the  business  of 
the  country  was  going  through  a  series  of  changes  which  were 
almost  as  significant.     The  economic  conditions  of   the  two 
sections  were  very  different.     The  North  was  prosperous  dur- 
ing most  of  the  war.     The  eastern  states  grew  rapidly,  and  at 
the  same  time  population  pushed  out  to  new  frontiers;    towns 
and  cities  sprang  up  from  end  to  end  of  the  country ;   railroads 
were  extended ;  and  new  mines  and  factories  were  opened.     It\ 
was  this  prosperity  which  made  it  possible  for  the  nation  to  ) 
pay  high  taxes  during  the  war  and  to  carry  the  tremendous/ 
national  debt. 

So  long  as  fighting  continued,  and  for  ten  years  afterward, 
the  South  was  in. a  bad  economic  condition.  The  principal 
export,  cotton,  could  not  be  sent  to  market  except  in  small 
quantities.  Most  of  the  banks  and  large  business  houses  were 
ruined.  Stocks  of  goods  were  entirely  exhausted.  Long 
stretches  of  railroads  were  torn  up  by  invading  armies.  The 
seaports  were  in  decay  as  a  result  of  the  blockade.  The  South 
as  a  community  was  bankrupt  at  the  end  of  the  war. 

Still,  the  natural  resources  of  both  North  and  South  were 

enormous.     The  southern  land  was  there  and  produced  cotton 

which  fortunately  commanded  an  unusually  high  price.     In 

the  North,  wheat,  oats,  corn,  and  all  sorts  of  agricultural  products 

503 


504  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

abounded.  Both  sections  were  rich  in  coal  and  iron,  and  the 
western  plateau  region  was  beginning  to  produce  silver  and  gold. 
Above  all,  millions  of  laborers  were  on  hand  to  make  available 
these  gifts  of  nature.  Fully  1,500,000  able-bodied  men  returned 
from  the  war,  ready  to  take  their  places  as  farmers,  workmen, 
professional  men,  and  business  managers.  The  North  had 
money  to  lend,  and  part  of  its  savings  could  be  invested  in 
the  South.  Europe  was  also  ready  to  lend  and  to  invest,  on 
a  great  scale,  the  money  that  was  so  much  needed  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  North  and  the  restoration  of  the  South.  Such 
force  and  vigor  required  only  a  proper  organization  of  business 
to  make  all  parts  of  the  country  rich. 

327.   LABORERS  AND  IMMIGRANTS 

Laborers  were  numerous.  In  the  South  the  mountaineers  kept 
up  their  farms  in  much  the  same  shiftless  fashion  as  before  the 
war,  barely  supporting  their  families  from  year  to  year.  The 
old  class  of  substantial  families  tilling  their  own  land  remained 
in  the  border  states,  and  in  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and 
Texas.  The  rough  work  of  the  towns  and  cities,  together  with 
much  of  the  building  of  every  kind,  continued  to  be  done  by 
negroes.  They  also  cut  most  of  the  timber,  built  the  railroads, 
worked  as  section  hands  and  farmers,  and  did  the  crude  labor 
for  the  factories.  In  the  fields,  they  furnished  nearly  all  the 
hired  labor,  for  the  South  was  obliged  to  adopt  something  ap- 
proaching a  wage  system.  The  negro  hands  were  not  very 
efficient,  but  still  they  were  on  the  ground,  knew  the  tasks,  and 
raised  probably  two  thirds  or  more  of  the  annual  crop  of  cotton. 

Northern  labor  was  on  a  far  better  footing.  The  farmer 
owning  and  working  his  own  land  was  considered  the  normal, 
usual  worker  in  the  open  country.  Hired  farm  laborers  were 
few,  for  there  was  such  a  demand  for  labor  in  mines  and  fac- 
tories and  on  lines  of  transportation  that  any  good  man  could 
find  a  job  at  attractive  wages.  Many  of  the  farmers'  sons  found 
their  way  to  the  cities,  where  the  most  energetic  and  able  be- 


Development  of  the  Far  West  505 

came  foremen,  managers,  owners  of  shops,  stores,  and  factories, 
bankers,  and  proprietors  of  railroads  and  other  corporations. 

Northern  labor  and  industry  were  greatly  aided  by  foreign 
immigration,  which  was  resumed  on  a  large  scale  as  soon  as  the 
Civil  War  ended.  Irish  and  German  immigration  was  heavy. 
English,  Welsh,  Scotch,  Scandinavians,  and  Swiss  also  came 
in  large  numbers.  Wars  in  central  Europe  between  Prussia 
on  one  side  and  Denmark,  Austria,  and  France  in  turn  on  the 
other  (1864-1870)  led  most  European  nations  to  require  that 
every  able-bodied  young  man  should  have  military  training 
for  at  least  a  year  or  two.  Hence  when  German  and  other  im- 
migrants went  back  to  visit  friends,  if  they  had  originally  come 
away  without  having  served  the  required  term  in  the  army, 
they  were  liable  to  arrest,  even  though  naturalized  citizens  of 
the  United  States. 

To  get  rid  of  this  trouble,  a  set  of  treaties  was  negotiated  (be- 
ginning in  1868)  with  the  various  German  states,  and  with 
Belgium,  Austria,  Great  Britain,  and  several  small  powers,  by 
which  if  a  native  of  those  countries  comes  to  the  United  States 
and  stays  five  years,  he  loses  his  native  citizenship,  whether  nat- 
uralized here  or  not ;  but  if  he  goes  back  to  his  mother  country 
and  lives  there  two  years,  he  may  lose  his  American  citizenship. 

The  welcome  to  immigrants  extended  across  the  Pacific. 
Chinese  laborers  drifted  to  California  and  Oregon,  and  thou- 
sands of  them  were  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Pacific 
railroads  (§  329).  In  1868  the  "Burlingame  Treaty"  specifi- 
cally promised  that  our  government  would  protect  Chinese  in 
this  country  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  rights  as  those  en- 
joyed by  citizens  of  other  countries.  Nobody  then  seemed  to 
doubt  that  immigration  of  any  kind  added  to  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  the  United  States. 

328.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FAR  WEST  (1861-1876) 

The  immigrants  helped  to  develop  the  West,  into  which 
settlers  were  pouring  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  Many  were 


506  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

attracted  by  the  Homestead  Act,  passed  in  1862,  under  which 
any  head  of  a  family,  native  or  foreign  born,  might  take  up  160 
acres  of  government  land,  and  at  the  end  of  five  years'  residence 
receive  a  title  to  it  free  of  cost.  Within  ten  years  28,000,000  acres 
of  land  were  thus  "  homesteaded " ;  and  9,000,000  acres  were 
given  away  under  an  act  of  1873,  granting  "tree  claims" 

to  settlers  who  would 
plant  and  keep  alive 
a  certain  number  of 
trees. 

Another  cause  for 
the  rush  to  the  West 
was  the  discovery  of 
new  mines — copper  at 
Butte,  Montana  (1864), 
gold  in  the  Black  Hills 
of  Dakota  and  Wyo- 
ming (1874),  silver  at 
Leadville,  Colorado 
(1876).  Between  1861  and  1876  it  was  found  desirable  to 
organize  three  new  western  states:  Nevada  (1864),  Nebraska 
(1867),  and  Colorado  (1876),  raising  the  total  number  to  thirty- 
eight.  Congress  also  set  up  the  territories  of  Dakota,  Idaho, 
Arizona,  Montana,  and  Wyoming. 

Much  of  the  western  country  was  still  unknown  to  white 
men  when,  in  1869,  Major  Powell,  with  a  dare-devil  boat  expedi- 
tion, went  down  the  Colorado  River,  and  revealed  the  wonders 
of  its  Grand  Canyon.  In  1870  an  exploring  party  reached  the 
upper  Yellowstone  valley,  and  made  known  the  canyons,  hot 
springs,  and  spouting  geysers  which  are  among  the  greatest 
of  our  natural  wonders. 

The  Indian  reservations  established  in  the  Northwest  in 
Jackson's  time  (§  240)  were  hard  pressed  by  the  wave  of  white 
settlement.  President  Grant  set  on  foot  a  "peace  policy" 
in  1869,  by  which  he  hoped  to  civilize  the  Indians.  Many 


A  WESTERN  HOMESTEAD,  ABOUT  1875. 


Railroads  507 

reservations  were  placed  under  agents  nominated  by  religious 
societies.  Nevertheless,  Indian  wars  could  not  be  stopped. 
The  little  Modoc  tribe  in  the  lava  beds  of  northern  California 
for  many  months  (1872-1873)  defied  the  whole  United  States 
government ;  and  the  Sioux  of  the  upper  Missouri  country, 
under  the  leadership  of  Chief  Sitting  Bull,  in  1876  totally 


AN  ARMY  AMIU  LANCE  ON  THE  WESTERN  PLAINS. 

destroyed  a  force  of  about  two  hundred  troops  with  their  com- 
mander, General  Custer;  but  this  was  the  last  dangerous 
contest  with  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest. 

329.   RAILROADS 

The  rapid  settlement  of  the  West  was  made  possible  by  the 
railroads.  All  the  eastern  roads  had  state  charters,  which 
could  give  no  rights  outside  the  state  limits.  Hence  "parent 
companies"  were  formed  to  lease  or  operate  local  lines.  Fore- 
most were  the  Pennsylvania  Company,  which  now  holds  at 
least  thirty  charters  in  twelve  states,  and  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral. Many  short  lines  in  the  West  were  merged  into  great 
systems  such  as  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern,  and  the  Chicago 
Burlington  and  Quincy.  In  this  process  there  was  plenty  of 
"stock  watering"  ;  that  is,  issuing  of  shares  to  an  amount 
greater  than  the  cost  of  the  property,  and  then  trying  to  earn 
dividends  on  the  whole  capital. 

Up  to  the  Civil  War  most  of  the  railroads  were  organized'  in 


508  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

lengths  of  a  few  hundred  miles  at  most.  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt,  a  steamboat  king,  bought  an  interest  in  several  railroads 
branching  out  from  New  York,  and  in  1869  made  a  union 
between  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  and  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral, which  gave'  an  all-rail  line,  under  one  management,  from 
the  wharves  of  New  York  to  the  wharves  of  Buffalo.  The 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  till  then  running  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburgh,  absorbed  the  Fort  Wayne  route  to  Chicago  (1869), 
and  the  Pan  Handle  route  to  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis ;  and  in 


A  TRANSATLANTIC  STEAMER  IN  1875.     (Steamship  Wyoming  of  the 
Guion  Line.) 

1875  changed  its  eastern  terminus  to  New  York.  It  also 
founded  an  "American  Line"  of  steamers  (1873)  sailing  from 
Philadelphia  to  Liverpool. 

The  delay  and  expense  of  ferry  transfers  across  broad  rivers 
led  to  the  building  of  great  railroad  and  highway  bridges.  The 
first  bridge  across  the  middle  Mississippi  was  built  at  Rock 
Island,  Illinois,  in  1856.  Between  1865  and  1880  that  river  was 
bridged  at  a  dozen  other  places,  and  in  1874  the  Eads  steel 
arch  railway  bridge  was  constructed  at  St.  Louis.  In  1867  a 
wagon  suspension  bridge  was  built  across  the  Ohio  from  Cin- 


Railroads  509 

cinnati  to  Covington ;  and  the  river  was  bridged  for  a  railroad 
at  Parkersburg  in  1871.  The  greatest  work  of  this  kind  was 
the  suspension  bridge  from  New  York  to  Brooklyn,  1595  feet 
span,  and  135  feet  above  the  water  level,  begun  in  1870,  and 
opened  for  travel  in  1883. 

During  the  Civil  War  it  became  plain  that  a  railroad  across 
the  continent  to  California  was  necessary  if  California  was  to 
be  held  in  the  Union.  For  this  purpose  (beginning  in  1862)  Con- 
gress chartered  the  Union  Pacific,  Northern  Pacific,  Atlantic 
and  Pacific,  and  Texas  and  Pacific  companies;  Congress  also 
granted  lands  and  privileges  to  these  roads  and  to  the  Central 
Pacific,  Kansas  Pacific,  Southern  Pacific,  and  the  short  Western 
Pacific  and  Sioux  City  and  Pacific  roads. 

Construction  was  pushed  rapidly  on  the  most  direct  of  the 
trunk  lines,  that  from  Omaha  via  Great  Salt  Lake  to  California ; 
and  in  1869  the  last  spike  was  driven  at  Ogden,  Utah,  and  a 
through  rail  connection  was  thus  established,  1917  miles  long, 
from  Omaha  to  San  Francisco.  State-chartered  roads  filled 
the  gap  from  Chicago  to  Omaha. 

By  1885  the  companies  mentioned  above  had  built  four  lines 
to  the  Pacific  coast :  the  Northern  Pacific  from  Lake  Superior 
to  Puget  Sound;  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  from 
Omaha  and  Kansas  City  to  San  Francisco;  the  Southern 
Pacific  from  New  Orleans  to  San  Francisco  via  El  Paso ;  and  the 
Atchison  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  from  Kansas  City  to  San  Diego. 

These  roads  were  not  like  the  former  state-chartered  roads. 
They  all  had  a  connection  with  the  federal  government :  (i) 
The  long  through  lines  were  chartered  by  Congress,  which  pre- 
vented the  states  from  interfering  with  their  through  business. 
(2)  Most  of  them  had  land  grants  —  half  the  government  land 
lying  in  a  strip  twenty  miles  wide*  in  some  instances  forty 
miles  wide,  along  their  whole  length,  amounting  in  all  to 
117,000,000  acres.  (3)  The  government  lent  large  sums  to  the 
Union,  Central,  Kansas,  Western,  and  Sioux  City  and  Pacific 
roads  to  an  amount  finally  of  $64,000,000. 


Commercial  Questions  511 

330.   COMMERCIAL  QUESTIONS  (1865-1885) 

Business  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds  throughout  the  Union, 
and  a  new  commercial  system  grew  up  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
time. 

(1)  Banking  was  much  changed.     About  half  the  banking 
capital  was  owned  by  national  banks,  chartered  by  a  general  act 
of  Congress ;  they  deposited  government  bonds  in  Washington 
and  received  national  bank  notes  which  were  as  acceptable  as 
greenbacks,  and  therefore  were  at  par  in  gold  after  1879  (§  335). 
Some  state  chartered  banks  kept  on  without  issuing  any  notes 
(§  303)  ?  ancl  private  banking  houses  acted  as  finance  agents. 
The  Drexel  firm  in  Philadelphia,  the  Morgan  firm  of  New  York, 
and  the  Lee-Higginson  firm  in  Boston  are  examples.     A  new 
kind  of  banks  called  "trust  companies"  began  to  operate  in  the 
great  money  centers.    They  did  a  regular  banking  business  and 
also  aided  in  the  transactions  of  large  corporations. 

(2)  The  savings  of  the  country  .were  invested  in  all  kinds  of 
ways.    Great  numbers  of  people  bought  farms  or  town  houses ; 
other  people  put  their  savings  into  'mortgages.     The  savings 
banks    became    very    important;     their   total   deposits  were 
$1,095,000,000   in    1885.     Life    insurance   was  also  developed 
as  a   means  of   saving  and  of   providing  for  families.     From 
1865    to  1886  the   policy   holders   and   the  amounts  invested 
increased   nearly   ten   times   over.     The  insurance   companies 
and  savings  banks  made  a  business  of  lending  money  on  good 
real  estate  security,  and  that  helped  the  building  of  towns  and 
cities. 

(3)  Corporations  now  became  the  usual  form  of  great  enter- 
prises of  every  sort,  and  many  private  firms  found  it  convenient 
to  change  into  stock  companies,  which  could  bring  together  the 
capital  of  many  persons  and  hold  them  free  from  unlimited  lia- 
bility for  the  corporation's  debts.     Manufacturers,  miners,  and 
owners  of  steamship  companies  and  many  other  industries  chose 
this  form  of  investment. 


512  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

(4)  A  new  type  of  corporation  was  the  great  monopoly  con- 
trolling some  large  line  of  business.  In  1870  was  chartered  in 
Ohio  a  corporation  called  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  directed 
principally  by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  for  the  purpose -of  manu- 
facturing illuminating  oil  out  of  petroleum  (§  279).  In  a  few 
years  it  became  one  of  the  largest  and  most  profitable  com- 
panies in  the  country.  It  consolidated  with  other  companies; 
it  had  special  contracts  with  the  railroads,  and  was  soon  able 
to  force  most  of  its  rivals  out  of  business;  and  its  property, 
which  in  1870  was  about  $1,000,000,  rose  in  1885  to  an  amount 
estimated  at  $150,000,000. 

Just  after  the  Civil  War  came  a  period  of  fierce  speculation : 
24,000  miles  of  new  railroad  were  built  in  four  years ;  great 
losses  came  in  the  Chicago  fire  (1871)  and  in  the  Boston  fire 
(1872),  and  a  commercial  crisis  in  1873  caused  failures  to  the 
amount  of  about  $225,000,000.  Several  instances  of  fraud 
seemed  to  show  a  lax  morality  in  business  and  in  the  public 
service.  It  was  found  (1872)  that  the  Credit  Mobilier,  a  corpo- 
ration formed  to  build  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  had  offered 
bribes  in  the  form  of  its  stock  to  members  of  Congress.  A 
Whisky  Ring  was  unearthed  (1875),  which  was  defrauding  the 
government  by  false  accounts.  Secretary  Belknap,  of  the 
War  Department,  was  detected  in  selling  the  privilege  to  trade 
at  army  posts ;  an  attempt  was  made  to  impeach  him,  but  he 
resigned,  and  the  impeachment  broke  down  for  lack  of  a  two- 
thirds  vote  (1876). 

331.   MECHANICAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

The  foundation  of  business  prosperity  was  the  ability  of  the 
nation  to  produce  every  year  more  than  was  needed  to  carry 
it  through  the  year,  for  the  surplus  could  be  put  into  new 
enterprises.  One  of  the  ways  of  increasing  the  profits  was  to 
use  machinery  in  place  of  hand  labor,  and  the  Americans  of 
the  time  were  notably  ingenious  in  labor-saving  devices.  Cheap 
machinery  required  cheap  iron ;  and  the  blast  furnaces  for 


A  SHOE-SEWING 
MACHINE. 


Mechanical  Improvements  513 

making  pig  iron  were  enlarged  and  provided  with  more  power- 
ful machinery  for  blowing  in  air.     Another  great  improvement 

was  caused  by  the  introduction  of  the 

Bessemer  process  for  making  steel  direct 

from  pig  iron  (1864). 

Bessemer   steel   furnished  cheap  and 

substantial  railroad  rails;    the  stronger 

wheel   base    made   it   possible    to   run 

heavier  cars,  carrying  loads  still  heavier, 

and  thus  transportation  was  cheapened. 

After  1880  the  track  gauges  of  almost  all 

the  railroads  were  made  uniform,  so  that 

through  freight  and  passenger  cars  could 

be  more  widely  used.    Pullman  and  other 

sleeping,  dining,  and  parlor  cars  came 

into  use.      Passenger  rates  on  through 

routes  were  reduced,  mileage  tickets  were 

introduced,  and  better  stations  erected. 
New  methods  of  sending  intelligence  came  into  use.     The 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  absorbed  a  number  of 

small  companies,  and 
spread  a  net  of  wires 
and  offices  over  the 
Union ;  and  in  1866 
the  first  permanently 
successful  Atlantic  ca- 
ble was  laid.  The  mail 
system  also  underwent 
three  improvements : 
delivery  of  mails  by 
carriers  (1863),  postal 
money  orders  (1864), 

and  mail  cars  in  which  clerks  sort  the  mail  while  en  route  (1864). 
Hundreds  of  new  inventions  and  improvements  in  old  ones 

were  made  for  the  betterment  of  home  life  and  business.     Among 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  32 


STEEL  MANUFACTURE. 


514  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

them  were  systems  of  heating  buildings  by  hot  air,  steam,  and 
hot  water;  artificial  ice;  barbed  wire  fencing  and  wire  nails; 
house  drainage ;  building  paper ;  elevators  for  storing  and  load- 
ing grain ;  passenger  elevators  in  high  buildings ;  asphalt  and 
wooden-block  pavement ;  plate  glass  windows  of  large  dimen- 
sions; improved  firearms,  especially  the  automatic  machine 
guns  of  Hiram  Maxim  and  others;  new  explosives,  especially 
dynamite ;  sulky  plows  and  other  farm  machinery ;  compressed 

air  drills  for  mining ;  steel 
safes  arjd  bank  vaults; 
chemical  dyestuffs ;  and 
new  metals  and  alloys. 
The  present  form  of  bi- 
cycle was  evolved  from 
earlier  patterns  in  1884. 
The  typewriter,  first  put 
on  the  market  in  1874, 
furnished  a  new  employ- 
ment for  thousands  of  men 
and  women.  Typesetting 
and  typecasting  machines, 
perfected  after  1890,  have 
quickened  and  cheapened  the  process  of  .making  books  and 
newspapers. 

The  greatest  inventive  leap  was  in  the  use  of  electricity, 
especially  in  four  forms:  (i)  electric  lights  —  first  the  arc, 
then  the  incandescent  —  pushed  into  use  by  Charles  F.  Brush 
and  Thomas  A.  Edison,  who  took  out  at  Washington  more 
than  one  thousand  patents  for  various  inventions;  (2)  the 
telephone,  first  exhibited  by  Professor  Alexander  Graham  Bell 
in  1876;  (3)  electric  trolley  cars  taking  power  from  a  wire, 
made  practicable  about  1884;  (4)  electric  motors  for  fixed 
machinery  and  for  wheeled  vehicles. 

Many  new  safety  appliances  were  adopted  in  the  steam 
railroad  service,  especially  the  air  brake,  introduced  by  George 


AN  EARLY  FORM  OF  TYPEWRITER. 


Labor  and  Strikes  515 

Westinghouse  (1868),  the  automatic  coupler,  the  continuous 
car  platform  and  vestibule,  telegraphic  train  dispatching,  and 
automatic  switches  and  signals. 

The  system  of  "assembling"  machines  out  of  parts,  each  of 
which  is  made  by  the  thousand  in  standard  dimensions,  won- 
derfully cheapened  many  lines 
of  manufacturing  ;  it  was 
applied  all  the  way  from 
watch-making  to  locomotive 
building.  It  led,  however, 
to  subdivision  and  specializa- 
tion of  labor,  and  tended  to 
diminish  the  all-round  train- 
ing of  mechanics. 

332.   LABOR  AND  STRIKES 
(1865-1885) 

The  rolling  up  of  capital  in 
big  units  was  paralleled  by  a 
combination  of  labor.  The 
labor  organizations  began  to 
seek  various  improvements  of  LINOTYPE  MACHINE.  (Casts  a  line 
their  condition  which  might  of  type  in  one  piece,  from  matrices 
be  gained  by  action  of  the  "^t"  by  use  of  a  keyboard  and  after- 
wards "  distributed  "  automatically.) 
state  legislatures.  They  urged 

laws  making  ten  hours  the  normal  day's  work.  They  secured 
from  Congress  in  1885  a  bill  preventing,  the  immigration  of 
"contract  laborers";  that  is,  of  men  and  women  who  came 
over  under  an  agreement  to  work  for  a  certain  sum  from  an 
employer  here.  They  began  to  demand  inspection  -of  factories, 
and  relief  from  the  bad  conditions  to  which  women  and  children 
were  subjected. 

Trades  unions  were  active  long  before  the  Civil  War,  and  in 
1869  the  order  of  Knights  of  Labor  was  founded,  as  a  general 
society  open  to  workmen  of  all  trades;  but  its  power  was 


516  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

little  felt  before  1883.  Contests  between  employers  and  organi- 
zations of  workmen  in  particular  trades,  led  to  a  series  of  ter- 
rible strikes,  the  worst  of  which  was  the  railroad  strike  of  1877 
at  Pittsburgh  and  other  places.  The  railroads  were  paralyzed, 
trains  and  stations  were  set  on  fire,  and  millions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  property  destroyed.  The  state  authorities  could  not  stop  this 

disorder,  and  United 
States  troops  were 
eventually  called  in, 
and  put  it  down. 

The  greatest  tri- 
umph of  labor  was  the 
stopping  of  Chinese 
immigration  (§327). 
The  census  of  1880 
showed  105,000  Chi- 
nese in  the  United 
States,  chiefly  on  the 
A  COAL  MINER'S  MODEL  DWELLING.  Pacific  coast  There 

a  prejudice  arose  against  them,  especially  among  white 
laborers.  An  agitator  named  Dennis  Kearney,  "  the  Sand 
Lots  Orator,"  headed  a  movement  expressed  in  the  last 
words  of  his  every  speech,  "The  Chinese  must  go!"  In  1879 
Congress  passed  a  bill  to  restrict  the  coming  of  the  Chinese. 
Notwithstanding  vetoes  by  President  Hayes  and  President 
Arthur  the  immigration  of  Chinese  laborers  was  "suspended" 
for  ten  years,  —  a  prjnciple  to  which  the  Chinese  consented  by 
treaty.  Similar  bills  were  passed  from  time  to  time  to  make 
the  exclusion  practically  permanent.  The  action  of  Congress 
prevented  the  coming  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  who 
would  have  brought  about  a  race  difficulty  like  the  negro  ques- 
tion in  the  South. 

333.   REVIEW 

At  the  end  of  the  Civil  War,  the  South  was  practically  ruined, 
while  the  North  was  prosperous  and  rich.     The  negroes  were 


References  517 

employed  on  a  new  wage  system,  which  took  time  to  develop. 
The  Xorth  offered  many  opportunities  for  laborers  and  drew 
a  heavy  immigration  from  abroad,  including  Chinese  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  West  was  built  up  partly  by  the  ease  of  ac- 
quiring land  under  the  Homestead  Act,  and  partly  by  the 
attraction  of  rich  mines.  As  the  frontier  pressed  upon  the 
Indians,  fierce  wars  broke  out  with  several  tribes. 

Many  railroad  lines  were  consolidated  into  systems,  especially 
the  great  through  lines  from  the  seaboard  to  Chicago.  The 
great  rivers  were  bridged  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  government, 
several  railroads  were  constructed  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

As  the  country  grew  richer,  banks  increased  and  trust  com- 
panies and  savings  banks  were  founded.  Stock  companies  mul- 
tiplied, and  great  corporations  controlling  whole  branches  of 
industry  began  to  appear.  Speculation  brought  on  corruption 
in  government  and  heavy  losses  in  business. 

The  main  causes  for  prosperity  were  the  inventive  genius 
of  the  Americans,  the  introduction  of  the  Bessemer  steel  process, 
better  systems  of  mail  and  telegraphy,  and  all  kinds  of  in- 
ventions for  the  home  and  the  office,  particularly  electrical 
devices.  The  skilled  laborers  banded  together  in  organiza- 
tions, at  first  in  a  single  trade,  then, under  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
into  a  national  union.  An  era  of  serious  strikes  came  on, 
beginning  with  the  railroads ;  and  the  labor  men  on  the  Pacific 
coast  made  a  determined  and  successful  effort  to  stop  the  im- 
migration of  Chinese. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  357,  490.  —  Dunning, 
Reconxlruflion,  142,  224. — Paxson,  New  Nation,  23,  146,  147. — 
Shepherd,  Ilixt.  Alias,  210.  —  Sparks,  Nat.  Development,  20,  266. — 
U.  S.  Tenth  Census,  Atlas. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  664-667,  676-691.  —  Beard,  Conlemp. 
Am.  Hist.,  ch.  ii.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  xxii,  xxiv,  xxvii,  xxx.  — 
Buck,  Granger  Movement.  —  Coolidge,  Chinese  Immigration.  — Dunning, 
Reconstruction,  ch.  ix.  —  Forsyth,  Story  of  the  Soldier,  chs.  vi-xvi.  — 


518  Social  and  Economic  Changes 

Haney,  Congressional  Hist,  of  Railroads,  II.  chs.  vi-xii.  —  Hebard, 
Pathbreakers,  chs.  vii-ix.  —  Hough,  Story  of  the  Cowboy.  —  McLaughlin, 
My  Friend,  the  Indian.  —  O'Neill,  Labor  Movement,  ch.  v.  —  Parrish, 
Great  Plains,  173-382.  —  Paxson,  Last  Am.  Frontier,  chs.  ix-xxii ;  New 
Nation,  20-27,  67-74,  92~97,  119-124,  142-151.  —  Shinn,  Story  of  the 
Mine.  —  Warman,  Story  of  the  Railroad.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  V. 
115-141,  164-169.  —  Wright,  Indust.  Evolution,  159-309. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  601,  739,  749,  752,  779- 
781,  811,  815,  842.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  IV.  §§  162,  163;  Source 
Book,  §  138.  — James,  Readings,  §§  96,  97.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Statutes, 
nos.  106,  107,  no.  —  See  also  contemporary  magazines  and  newspapers. 

Illustrative.  Adams,  Log  of  a  Cowboy.  —  Anderson,  Heart  of  the 
Ancient  Firs  (Wash.).  —  Bindloss,  Cattle-Baron's  Daughter.  —  Birge, 
Awakening  of  the  Desert.  —  Brooks,  The  Reservation  (Minn.).  —  Carr, 
The  Iron  Way.  —  Churchill,  Coniston.  —  Clemens,  Roughing  It.  — - 
Garland,  Moccasin  Ranch;  The  Little  Norsk  (northwest  farming).  — 
Grey,  Riders  of  the  Purple  Sage  (Mormons).  — Overton,  Heritage  of 
Unrest  (Indians).  —  White,  The  Westerners.  —  Wister,  The  Virginian. 

Pictures.  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.  — Century.  — Dunbar,  History  of  Travel 
in  Am.  — Harper's  Weekly.  —  Mentor,  serial  nos.  85,  87.  —  Scribner's. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Admission  of  Colorado.  [§  328]  —  (2)  Account  of  one  of  the  fol- 
lowing territories  :  Idaho ;  Montana ;  Wyoming ;  Dakota ;  Arizona. 
[§  328]  —  (3)  Powell's  voyage  down  the  Colorado  River.  [§  328]  — 
(4)  Modoc  War.  [§  328]  —  (5)  Custer  massacre.  [§  328]  —  (6)  On  a  Pacific 
railroad  crossing  the  plains;  or  frontier  towns.  [§  329]  —  (7)  Chicago 
fire.  [§330] —  (8)  Bessemer  steel  process.  [§  331]  —  (9)  Development 
of  one  of  the  following  inventions :  sleeping  cars ;  telegraph ;  firearms ; 
locks  and  safes ;  typewriter ;  typesetting  machines ;  electric  lights ;  tele- 
phones; electric  trolley  cars;  train  equipments;  railroad  signals. 
[§  331]  —  (I0)  Railroad  strikes.  [§  332] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(n)  Life  of  a  former  slaveholder's  family  after  the  War.  [§  327]  — 
(12)  Use  of  the  Homestead  Act.  [§  328]  —  (13)  Industrial  career  of 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt.  [§  329]  —  (14)  Land  grants  to  Pacific  railroads. 
[§  329]  —(15)  Early  savings  banks;  or  early  life  insurance.  [§  330]  — 
(16)  Early  history  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  [§  330]  —  (17)  The 
Knights  of  Labor.  [§  332]  —  (18)  Prohibition  of  Chinese  immigration. 
[§  332] 


CHAPTER  XXX 


POLITICS  AND  ADMINISTRATION   (1876-1896) 
334.  ELECTION  OF  1876 

AN  opportunity  to  measure  the  great  social  and  commercial 
advance  came  in  1876,  when  the  Americans  commemorated  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  nation  by  a  Centennial 
Exposition  held  at  Phila- 
delphia. Machines  and 
products  of  every  kind 
were  shown  ;  millions  of 
people  had  their  first  op- 
portunity to  see  spinning, 
weaving,  printing,  paper 
manufacture,  and  like 
processes,  actually  per- 
formed before  their  eyes. 
Schools  and  colleges 
showed  their  methods  and 
results.  Foreign  exhibi 
tors  brought  over  their 
wares,  and  the  whole  land 
was  stirred  by  new  ideas. 

When  the  time  came  to  nominate  a  President  in  1876,  the 
Republican  convention  passed  over  the  most  prominent  candi- 
date, James  G.  Elaine,  recently  Speaker  of  the  House,  who 
was  strongly  opposed  by  the  friends  of  President  Grant. 
They  finally  settled  on  a  compromise  candidate,  General  Ruth- 
erford B.  Hayes,  governor  of  Ohio.  The  Democrats  nominated 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  recent  governor  of  New  York,  an  honest  and 
519. 


SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN,  ABOUT  1876. 


520 


Politics  and  Administration 


ELECTION  OF  1876. 


conservative  man,  the  ablest  in  the  party.  An  organization 
of  the  western  farmers,  under  the  name  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry 
—  oftener  called  "Grangers"  —  which  was  formed  in  1867, 
now  made  itself  felt.  A  third  party  candidate  was  nominated 
by  the  "Greenback  party,"  which  stood  for  the  views  of  the 
Grangers  in  favor  of  more  paper  money.  The  thing  most 

discussed  in  the 
campaign  was  the 
alleged  disloyalty 
of  the  South  and 
its  friends  after 
the  war  was  over. 
On  the  morning 
after  election  day 
Tilden  was  cred- 
ited with  a  plural- 
ity of  250,000, 
and  appeared  to 
have  203  electoral  votes  to  Hayes's  166.  The  Republicans,  who 
had  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  at  once  claimed  that  the  legal 
votes  in  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Oregon  were 
for  their  candidate,  and  that  the  Senate  was  to  supervise  the 
count  and  decide  the  contest ;  the  Democratic  House  insisted 
that  the  two  houses  must  unite  in  counting  the  vote.  The 
question  was  complicated,  because  in  the  three  disputed 
southern  states  many  Democratic  ballots  were  thrown  out  by 
Republican  "returning  boards."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Re- 
publicans were  sure  that  if  the  negro  voters  in  the  South  had 
been  freely  allowed  to  vote,  they  would  have  cast  sufficient 
votes  to  carry  those  states  for  Hayes. 

335.  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES  (1877-1881) 

As  the  inauguration  day  approached  without  a  settlement 
of  the  dispute,  public  excitement  ran  high.  After  fierce  dis- 
cussion, an  act  of  Congress  was  passed  (January  29,  1877)  for 


Administration  of  President  Hayes  521 

a  special  Electoral  Commission  of  fifteen  members,  five  each  to 
be  chosen  by  the  House,  the  Senate,  and  the  Supreme  Court. 
It  was  understood  that  the  choice  should  fall  to  seven  Republi- 
cans, seven  Democrats,  and  one  Independent ;  but  instead  of 
the  Independent  a  Republican  was  chosen.  In  the  deliberations 
of  the  commission,  every  one  of  the  disputed  questions  was 
decided  for  the  Republican  contention  by  a  majority  of  eight 
to  seven.  The  result  was  that  on  March  2,  Hayes  was  declared 
elected  by  185  electoral  votes  to  184. 

Before  the  commission  finished  its  work,  Hayes  intimated 
that  he  did  not  mean  to  keep  federal  troops  in  the  South  any 
longer;  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  soldiers  were  removed  and 
never  were  sent  again.  The  Democrats  continued  to  hold  a 
majority  in  the  House  from  1875  to  1881,  and  controlled  the 
Senate  from  1879  to  1881.  They  tried  to  force  the  Republican 
President's  hand  by  adding  to  the  army  appropriation  act  a 
" rider"  —  that  is,  a  clause  not  necessary  for  the  purpose  of 
the  act  —  against  the  use  of  federal  election  supervisors,  such 
as  was  authorized  by  the  anti-Ku-Klux  act  of  1871  (§  321). 
The  President  won  by  vetoing  seven  such  bills  in  succession. 
Eventually  the  rules  of  the  House  were  so  changed  as  to  restrict 
the  practice  of  attaching  riders.  In  1879,  however,  an  act 
was  passed  formally  forbidding  the  use  of  federal  troops  at  the 
polls. 

From  1878  to  1882  was  in  general  a  period  of  prosperity.  The 
high  war  tariff  stood  after  most  of  the  other  taxes  were  re- 
duced; and  the  United  States  had  a  surplus  nearly  every 
year,  and  was  buying  gold  to  get  ready  for  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  which  came  about  almost  without  incident, 
January  i,  1879.  John  Sherman,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  / 
accumulated  $140,000,000  in  gold  to  redeem  any  greenbacks 
that  might  be  presented.  When  the  people  knew  that  they 
could  get  a  hundred  cents  in  gold  value  for  every  dollar,  they 
preferred  the  greenbacks.  Inasmuch  as  the  paper  notes  that 
were  redeemed  were  reissued  in  payment  of  government  ex- 


522  Politics  and  Administration 

penses,  the  amount  of  greenbacks  issued  by  the  Treasury  stood 
fast  at  $346,000,000,  and  still  stands  at  that  figure  to-day. 

336.  SILVER  COINAGE  (1877-1885) 

Just  as  the  country  was  coming  back  to  a  specie  basis,  the 
question  arose,  what  was  specie?  Silver  sold  in  London  for 
sixty  pence  an  ounce  in  gold  in  1872,  and  for  only  fifty- three 
pence  in  1878;  and  the  silver  mine  owners  of  the  far  West  felt 
sure  that  the  act  of  1873  demonetizing  silver  (§  323)  was  caus- 
ing the  fall  in  the  price  of  their  product.  The  Greenback 
party  (§  334)  cast  1,000,000  votes  in  the  state  and  congressional 
elections  of  1878 ;  and  one  of  their  main  demands  was  that  the 
United  States  again  coin  silver  dollars.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Bland, 
a  Missouri  congressman,  introduced  a  bill  which  passed  over 
Hayes's  veto  (February,  1878),  providing  that  the  United  States 
should  buy  and  coin  "not  less  than  two  million  dollars'  worth 
[of  silver  bullion]  per  month  nor  more  than  four  million  dollars' 
worth"  into  silver  dollars  at  the  old  ratio  of  16  to  i.  During 
the  next  twelve  years  the  mint  struck  370  million  of  these  "cart 
wheel  dollars"  —  called  in  jest  "the  dollar  of  our  daddies." 

The  act,  however,  did  not  restore  the  old  right  which  had 
existed  from  1792  to  1873,  of  "free  coinage"  of  silver;  that  is, 
of  exchanging  silver  bullion  at  the  treasury  for  its  weight  in 
silver  dollars  (§  140).  Free  coinage  of  gold  was  continued, 
and  in  effect,  therefore,  gold  remained  the  single  standard  of 
money.  The  silver  dollars  circulated  freely  at  their  face  value 
because  everybody  thought  that  somehow  the  government  would 
make  every  "dollar"  that  it  issued  good  at  the  best  value;  and 
in  the  end  their  confidence  was  justified. 

337.   GARFIELD  AND  ARTHUR  (1881-1885) 

In  the  election  of  1880  the  Democrats,  who  had  never  ceased 
to  call  Hayes  "the  fraud  President,"  hoped  to  be  successful 
beyond  all  dispute.  They  found  a  soldier  candidate  in  General 
Winfield  S.  Hancock,  one  of  the  bravest  and  soundest  soldiers 


Garfield  and  Arthur  $23 

of  the  war.  In  the  Republican  convention  the  leading  candi- 
dates were  Grant  and  Elaine,  but  again  as  in  1876  (§  334)  a  com- 
promise candidate  was  nominated,  General  James  A.  Garfield 
of  Ohio,  a  good  soldier  and  the  Republican  leader  in  the 
House.  General  Hancock  seemed  likely  to  be  elected, .  till  he 
wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  said  that  the  tariff  was  "a  local 
issue."  He  carried  every  southern  state  —  the  first  instance 
of  the  so-called  "solid  South  "  —  and  New  Jersey,  Nevada,  and 
California.  Though  about  even  with  Garfield  in  the  popular 
vote,  he  received  only  155  electoral  votes  to  214. 

President  Garfield  soon  found  himself  in  a  quarrel  within  his 
own  party  over  the  offices;  before  he  was  fairly  settled  in  his 
administration,  he  was  shot  by  a  half-crazed  aspirant  for  office 
and  died  some  weeks  later  (September  19,  1881).  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Vice  President,  Chester  A.  Arthur  of  New  York. 

The  difficulties  and  death  of  Garfield  centered  public  attention 
on  the  system  of  political  removals  introduced  in  Jackson's 
time  (§  216),  by  which  the  subordinate  places  were  distributed 
by  favor,  usually  as  a  reward  for  political  service.  Men  were 
constantly  being  removed  to  make  room  for  new  appointees; 
and  it  was  a  regular  custom  to  demand  from  the  government 
employees  a  certain  proportion  of  their  salaries,  for  the  national 
party  campaign  funds.  To  meet  these  abuses,  Congress  passed 
the  Pendleton  Civil  Service  Act  (January  16,  1883),  under  which 

(1)  appointments  to  certain  clerkships  and  other  subordinate 
places  in  the  government,  commonly  called  "the  classified  ser- 
vice," were  to  be  made  only  on  competitive  examinations ; 

(2)  removals  for  refusal  to  contribute  to  a  party  fund  were  for- 
bidden ;  (3)  political  assessments  by  a  government  official  or  in 
a  government  building  were  prohibited.     Arthur  began  to  carry 
out  the  act  in  a  small  way  and  it  is  still  the  law  of  the  land. 

After  1879  money  again  piled  up  in  the  treasury  and  there 
was  a  popular  demand,  in  which  Garfield  shared  during  his  life- 
time, for  a  reduction  of  the  tariff.  The  discussion  came  to  a 
head  in  1882  and  Congress  authorized  a  commission  to  report 


524  Politics  and  Administration 

on  the  tariff  —  the  first  case  of  the  kind  in  our  history.  They 
presented  a  bill  which  was  discussed,  revised,  and  essentially 
altered  by  Congress  so  that  the  final  outcome,  the  tariff  of 
1883,  reduced  duties  on  some  kinds  of  goods  but  raised  the 
average  rate  of  duty  from  about  43  per  cent  to  about  45  per  cent. 
It  left  unsettled  the  main  issue  of  whether  the  Republican  party 
would  make  high  protection  a  political  issue. 

338.   PUBLIC  INTEREST  IN  LATIN  AMERICA  (1875-1885) 

After  the  settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims  (§  324)  several 
serious  questions  of  foreign  policy  arose  in  Latin  America. 
President  Grant  threatened  in  1875  to  call  on  the  great  European 
powers  to  unite  with  us  in  intervention  in  Cuba;  and  under 
this  pressure  Spain  made  peace  with  the  Cubans  in  1878.  The 
colonial  government  was  continued,  but  negro  slavery  was  abol- 
ished in  Cuba ;  but  as  a  participant  in  the  rebellion  afterward 
said,  "We  went  to  work  to  save  money  for  another  revolution." 

The  old  question  of  an  isthmian  canal  (§  233)  arose  in  a  new 
form  when  in  1878  the  government  of  Colombia  granted  a  "con- 
cession" to  a  French  company  to  construct  a  canal  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  The  leading  spirit  was  Ferdinand  de 
Lesseps,  an  engineer  who  had  recently  constructed  the  Suez 
Canal,  and  who  had  the  confidence  of  French  investors.  He 
designed  a  tide-level  canal  through  a  divide  about  300  feet  high ; 
and  the  company  at  once  began  to  raise  money.  Vainly  did 
President  Hayes  try  to  arouse  the  people  of  the  United  States 
to  a  sense  of  danger  at  the  prospect  of  a  canal  to  be  controlled 
by  Europeans.  In  a  message  to  Congress  (1880)  he  said  that 
such  a  canal  would  be  a  great  ocean  thoroughfare  between  our 
Atlantic  and  our  Pacific  shores,  and  "virtually  a  part  of  the 
coast  line  of  the  United  States."  Neither  Congress  nor  the 
people  at  large  took  alarm;  they  were  willing  to  wait  and  see 
what  the  French  could  accomplish. 

From  March  to  December,  1881,  James  G.  Elaine  was  Secre- 
tary of  State  under  Presidents  Garfield  and  Arthur.  In  those 


Change  of  Political  Issues  525 

few  months  he  attempted  to  found  an  American  policy  which 
should  bring  about  three  desirable  things:  leadership  among 
the  American  states,  trade  reciprocity  with  those  states,  and 
an  isthmian  canal  under  the  control  of  the  United  States. 

(1)  Elaine  was  struck  by  the  losses  and  confusion  caused  by 
the  wars  among  the  Latin  American  powers.     War  broke  out 
between  Peru  and  Chile  in  1879.     After  an  exhausting  strug- 
gle, when  the  Peruvians  were  at  the  mercy  of  Chile,  Elaine 
instructed  our  ministers  to  Peru  and  Chile  (1881)  to  use  their 
influence  to  soften  the  demands  of  the  conquerors.     The  min- 
isters went  beyond  their  instructions,  and  threatened  Chile, 
which  paid  no  heed   to   their  suggestions.     The  other  Latin 
American  states  were  much  disturbed  at  what  they  thought  a 
spirit  of  meddling  with  their  concerns. 

(2)  Elaine  believed  that  it  was  for  the  interest  both  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  countries  south  of  us  to  build  up 
mutual   trade  by  special  "reciprocity  treaties,"  reducing  the 
tariff  duties  on  both  sides ;  but  he  could  not  persuade  Congress 
to  heed  his  policy  of  pushing  trade  with  Latin  America. 

(3)  Elaine  was  very  anxious  to  make  it  clear  that  the  Panama 
Canal  was  the  special  concern  of  the  United  States;    and  he 
tried  to  get  rid  of  the  troublesome  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty 
(§  233).     Great  Britain  simply  stood  by  the  treaty  and  he  made 
no  progress.     A  private  company  was  formed  in  New  York 
(1884)  to  build  a  rival  canal  by  the  Nicaragua  route,  and  made 
some  preliminary  surveys.     The  French  Panama  Canal  Com- 
pany was  at  work  from  1881  to  1889;    but   after  spending 
$100,000,000  on  the  canal  and  $160,000,000  more  on  salaries, 
commissions,  interest,  and  nobody  knew  what  else,  the  com- 
pany failed  (December,  1888)  and  the  work  was  suspended. 

339.  CHANGE  OF  POLITICAL  ISSUES  (1881-1885) 

Hayes's  withdrawal  of  the  troops  in  the  South  (§  335)  was 
an  admission  that  the  era  of  force  was  over.  The  presidential 
election  of  1884  marks  the  time  when  the  two  national  parties 


526  Politics  and  Administration 

at  last  gave  up  the  outworn  issues  of  the  Civil  War  and  re- 
construction, and  began  to  divide  on  the  pressing  questions  of 
revenue,  expenditure,  currency,  trusts,  and  especially  the 
protective  tariff.  The  Republican  candidate  was  at  last 
James  G.  Elaine  (§§  337,  338),  an  able  man  who  had  many 
enemies  in  his  own  party.  The  Democrats  put  up  Grover 
Cleveland,  who  had  come  to  the  front  by  triumphantly  carrying 
New  York  in  a  campaign  for  the  governorship. 

The  campaign  abounded  in  fierce  personalities.  Elaine's 
enemies  secured  and  published  certain  "Mulligan  Letters," 
which,  they  considered,  showed  that  he  had  used  his  office  of 
Speaker  for  the  private  advantage  of  himself  and  his  friends. 
Cleveland  was  supported  not  only  by  his  own  party,  but  also  by 
the  "Mugwumps,"  or  independent  Republicans,  who  expected 
him  to  stand  for  purer  politics. 

Without  the  vote  of  New  York,  Cleveland  could  not  be  elected, 
but  in  that  state  he  had  a  plurality  of  1149,  in  a  total  vote  of 
1,167,000.  This  with  Indiana,  New  Jersey,  Connecticut,  and  the 
"solid  South"  gave  219  electoral  votes  against  182  for  Elaine. 

As  Cleveland  was  the  first  Democratic  President  since  Bu- 
chanan, his  election  seemed  to  his  opponents  a  revolution,  and 
it  was  freely  predicted  that  he  would  pay  off  the  Confederate 
debt  or  even  reduce  the  negroes  again  to  slavery.  He  was  a 
resolute  President  who  vetoed  301  bills,  and  followed  Grant  in 
defeating  many  private  bills;  but  the  Republicans  held  a 
majority  in  the  Senate,  and  the  President  could  do  little  to 
secure  legislation  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  his  party. 

340.   CLEVELAND'S  FIRST  ADMINISTRATION  (1885-1889) 

As  President,  Cleveland  showed  a  rugged  will  and  a  strong 
sense  of  public  duty.  Great  pressure  was  put  on  him  to  remove 
the  Republicans  who  held  public  office.  He  poured  out  his 
wrath  upon  those  who  were  guilty  of  "offensive  partisanship  "- 
that  is,  who  used  their  offices  in  behalf  of  their  party  —  and  he 
removed  many  of  them;  but  he  stood  by  Arthur's  "classified 


GROVER  CLEVELAND,  ABOUT  1890. 


Cleveland's  First  Administration 

list"  (§  337)  and  added 
many  others  to  this  cate- 
gory of  public  officers,  who 
under  the  Pendleton  Law 
were  appointed  on  com- 
petitive examination. 

Cleveland  was  much 
concerned  by  the  extrava- 
gance of  Congress,  which 
voted  large  sums  for  pub- 
lic buildings,  river  and 
harbor  improvements,  and 
pension  bills.  This  last 
outgo  was  partly  in  conse- 
quence of  promises  made 
to  the  soldiers  during  the 
Civil  War  —  that  they 
and  their  families  should  not  suffer  want  because  of  their  serv- 
ice. Pensions  were  liberally  voted  to  the  widows  and  minor 
children  of  soldiers  killed,  and  to  the  living  veterans  suffering 
from  permanent  wounds  or  disability  contracted  in  the  service, 
if  they  needed  help.  In  addition  Congress  passed  hundreds  of 
bills,  some  of  them  over  the  President's  veto,  granting  pensions 
to  men  and  women  who  were  not  entitled  to  them  under  the 
general  law;  in  1889  the  pensioners  numbered  490,000  and 
drew  $89,000,000  a  year.  A  Dependent  Pension  Bill  passed 
both  houses  (January  31,  1887),  granting  a  pension  to  every 
survivor  of  those  who  had  served  in  the  war,  if  not  able  to 
support  himself  by  physical  labor.  Cleveland  vetoed  it  on 
the  ground  that  there  was  no  public  need  for  pensioning  men 
who  had  means  or  could  be  supported  by  their  children. 

The  lavishness  of  Congress  was  caused  partly  by  the  surplus 
of  revenue  over  current  expenses.  Of  course  there  was  an 
immense  unpaid  debt,  to  which  the  surplus  might  go,  but  it 
was  not  easy  to  call  in  bonds  before  they  were  due.  A  further 


528  Politics  and  Administration 

reason  for  the  surplus  was  the  heavy  proceeds  of  the  high  tariff 
of  1883  (§  337).  If  the  tariff  were  reduced,  the  surplus  would 
disappear.  President  Cleveland  set  the  political  issue  for  the 
campaign  of  1888  in  his  annual  message  of  1887,  in  which  he 
discussed  only  the  tariff:  "It  is  a  condition  which  confronts 
us  —  not  a  theory,"  said  he.  The  "condition"  was  the  annual 
surplus  which,  in  1887,  reached  $56,000,000. 

341.   HARRISON  AND  THE  TARIFF  (1888-1890) 

The  Republicans  accepted  this  challenge  and  for  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1888  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison,  who  had 
been  senator  from  Indiana.  For  the  first  time  the  Republicans 
in  their  platform  declared  that  high  protection  was  a  party 
principle.  The  Democratic  convention  unanimously  renom- 
inated  Cleveland.  By  a  plurality  of  13,002  votes  in  New  York, 
Harrison  carried  that  state,  and  thus  secured  233  electoral  votes 
to  1 68,  and  was  elected ;  though  the  Cleveland  men  cast  about 
100,000  more  popular  votes  than  the  supporters  of  Harrison,  in 
the  whole  country. 

The  first  Congress  under  Harrison  had  a  Republican  majority 
in  both  houses,  and  began  in  1890  to  vote  money  still  more 
freely  than  before  for  public  buildings  in  small  cities,  for  money 
subsidies  in  aid  of  American  ships,  and  for  dependent  pensions. 
The  outgo  for  pensions  jumped  up  to  an  average  of  $140,000,000 
a  year.  A  new  navy  was  already  begun,  and  in  1893  the  country 
possessed  a  "white  squadron"  of  steel  armed  cruisers. 

In  accordance  with  the  Republican  platform  of  1888,  a  new 
tariff  was  drawn  up  by  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  of 
which  William  McKinley  was  chairman ;  and  the  bill  took  its 
name  from  him.  The  Republicans  argued  the  necessity  of  pro- 
tecting American  manufacturers  and  laborers  from  foreign  com- 
petition, and  of  reserving  "the  home  market"  for  American 
producers;  the  Democrats  contended  that  the  tariff  kept  up 
the  prices  to  the  consumer  of  protected  products,  was  class 
legislation,  and  brought  in  an  unnecessary  and  dangerous  sur- 


Elaine's  Foreign  Policy  529 

plus.  The  tariff  of  1883  on  dutiable  goods  averaged  about 
45  per  cent;  the  McKinley  tariff  (October  i,  1890)  raised  it 
to  about  49  per  cent;  but  the  non-dutiable  "free  list"  was 
larger  in  the  McKinley  bill  than  in  the  previous  tariff. 

342.   ELAINE'S  FOREIGN  POLICY  (1889-1892) 

Harrison  was  not  a  leader.  The  strong  man  in  his  adminis- 
tration was  James  G.  Elaine  (§  339),  who  again  became  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Elaine  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1830,  settled 
in  Maine,  went  to  Congress  in  1863,  was  Speaker  from  1869  to 
1875,  and  then  senator  from  Maine.  He  was  always  a  strong 
partisan,  believed  in  his  own  side,  and  hated  and  attacked  his 
political  opponents.  He  was  an  effective  debater,  but  made 
many  enemies  by  saying  bitter  things  —  as  when  he  called 
Senator  Conkling  of  New  York  "a  turkey  cock."  Elaine  has 
often  been  compared  with  Henry  Clay,  whom  he  much  resembled 
in  his  strong  assertion  of  the  rights  of  America,  his  power  of 
making  personal  friends,  and  his  long  and  unsuccessful  ambition 
to  be  President ;  but  he  was  too  quick  and  aggressive  to  be  a 
good  diplomat.  Elaine  resigned  in  1892,  and  died  not  long 
after,  a  disappointed  man. 

In  1890  he  took  the  lead  in  a  Pan-American  Congress  at 
Washington,  which  recommended  a  Pan-American  bank,  a  Pan- 
American  railroad,  and  commercial  reciprocity  treaties.  Elaine 
agreed  with  our  Latin  American  neighbors,  but  the  Senate  would 
not  back  him.  The  difficulty  of  keeping  on  good  terms  with  these 
neighbors  was  shown  by  a  dispute  with  Chile  in  1891.  Some  of 
the  men  of  the  United  States  ship  Baltimore  were  attacked  on 
the  streets  of  Valparaiso  and  one  was  killed.  As  a  suitable 
apology  was  not  made,  President  Harrison  sent  a  message  to 
Congress  suggesting  war;  but  on  the  same  day  the  long-de- 
layed apology  came,  and  hostilities  were  avoided. 

Elaine  was  involved  in  another  dispute  which  required  several 
years  to  settle.  The  United  States  had  for  some  years  claimed 
the  right  to  seize  Canadian  vessels  which  took  seals  in  the  open 
HART'S  NEW  AMKR.  HIST. — 33 


530  Politics  and  Administration 

sea  near  Alaska.  Elaine  insisted  that  the  Bering  Sea  belonged 
to  the  United  States  as  a  part  of  the  Alaska  purchase  (§  319). 
In  1893  the  controversy  was  settled  by  a  board  of  arbitration 
in  Paris,  which  decided  against  the  United  States. 

343.   FREE  SILVER  AND  THE  TARIFF  (1890-1894) 
Frequent  debates  on  the  trusts,  railroads,  and  banks  and  on  the 
tariff  brought  out  the  fact  that  the  South  and  West  felt  —  with 


COMPARATIVE  VALUE  OF  THE  GOLD,  SILVER,  AND  COPPER  MINED  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES  FROM  1870  TO  1900. 

some  reason  —  that  they  received  less  than  their  share  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  nation's  prosperity.  Hence  the  formation  (1887)  of  a 
political  Farmers'  Alliance,  which  carried  the  stanch  Republican 
states  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska ;  and  a  National  People's  party 
was  soon  formed  (May,  1891).  The  silver-producing  states  — 
Colorado,  Montana,  Wyoming,  Idaho,  and  Nevada  —  joined 
the  movement,  because  the  price  of  their  product  went  down 
from  89  cents  in  gold,  for  the  weight  of  a  standard  silver  dollar 
in  1878,  to  73  cents  in  1889,  and  67  cents  in  1892. 

The  combination  showed  its  strength  in  1890  by  introducing 
a  bill  for  the  free  coinage  of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  i ;  this 
would  have  enabled  owners  of  silver  bullion  to  turn  it  into  legal 
tender  silver  dollars.  To  head  off  this  bill,  Congress  passed 
the  Sherman  Silver  Act  (July  14,  1890),  which  provided  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  buy  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver 
bullion  each  month  at  the  market  price,  paying  for  it  in  a  new 
kind  of  paper  notes.  Thus  a  market  was  given  to  the  silver 
producers,  and  the  currency  was  increased  to  satisfy  the  West 
and  South. 


Free  Silver  and  the  Tariff 

Under  the  Mo 
Kinley  tariff  the 
prices  of  silk, 
woolen,  and  cot- 
ton goods  of  every 
kind  suddenly 
rose,  and  thus 
brought  its  effect 
home  to  thou- 
sands of  buyers. 


531 


ELECTION  OF  1892. 


Hence  the  Demo- 
crats went  hope- 
fully into  the  campaign  of  1892,  on  the  tariff  issue,  and  again 
nominated  Cleveland,  who  won  a  sweeping  victory.  He  had 
277  electoral  votes  to  145  for  Harrison  and  22  for  a  People's 
party  candidate;  his  popular  plurality  was  380,000  and  his 
party  elected  a  majority  in  both  the  House  and  the  Senate 
which  would  sit  in  1893-1895.  This  was  the  first  Congress 
since  1859  that  was  Democratic  in  both  houses. 

When  Cleveland  was  a  second  time  inaugurated  (March  4, 
1893)  a  severe  commercial  crisis  was  impending.  A  general 
crash  was  prevented  only  by  the  banks  standing  by  one  another. 
As  always  happens  in  hard  times,  the  tariff  revenues  fell  off; 
the  expenses  of  the  government  increased,  and  the  gold  in  the 
treasury  ran  down  till  it  looked  as  if  the  holders  of  greenbacks 
would  make  a  run  on  the  treasury  by  demanding  redemption 
in  gold.  Congress  reluctantly  listened  to  President  Cleveland, 
and  (November  i,  1893)  stopped  the  silver  purchases  under  the 
Sherman  Act.  It  took  several  years  to  return  to  prosperity. 

The  Democrats  kept  their  campaign  promise  of  making  a  new 
tariff,  which  was  framed  in  1894  by  William  L.  Wilson,  chair- 
man of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee.  The  Senate  added 
so  many  protective  duties  that  the  President  would  not  sign  the 
bill,  but  let  it  become  an  act  without  his  signature.  The  act 
included  an  income  tax  which  of  course  bore  hardest  on  the 


532  Politics  and  Administration 

wealthy  eastern  and  middle  states.  On  a  test  case,  the  Su- 
preme Court  decided  (May,  1895)  that  the  tax  as  levied  was 
unconstitutional  because  it  was  a  direct  tax  not  distributed  in 
proportion  to  the  population  of  the  states  (see  Constitution, 
Article  I,  Section  2,  Clause  3).  A  revenue  of  about  $40,000,000 
a  year  was  thus  cut  off.  The  customs  dropped  so  that  there 
was  a  deficit  amounting  to  $70,000,000,  and  for  several  years 
similar  deficits  followed.  The  public  debt  slowly  increased, 
and  the  government  was  for  a  time  in  financial  straits. 

344.   END  OF  CLEVELAND'S  ADMINISTRATION  (1895-1897) 

The  Democratic  party  was  badly  split  by  the  controversy  over 
free  silver  (§  343),  and  when  President  Cleveland  insisted  on 
stopping  the  silver  purchases,  a  considerable  part  of  the  western 
and  southern  Democrats  accused  him  of  being  a  "gold  bug." 
Some  of  the  Democrats,  especially  in  Pennsylvania  and  a  few 
states  of  the  South,  were  in  favor  of  protection.  During  the 
last  two  years  of  his  administration,  therefore,  Cleveland  was 
no  longer  recognized  as  the  great  Democratic  leader. 

He  showed  his  characteristic  toughness  of  fiber  by  taking  up 
a  long-standing  boundary  controversy  between  Venezuela  and 
the  British  colony  of  Guiana.  His  Secretary  of  State,  Richard 
Olney,  served  notice  upon  Great  Britain  that  the  refusal  of 
that  country  to  arbitrate  on  this  question  was  an  attempt  to 
control  part  of  an  American  state,  and  hence  contrary  to  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  "To-day  the  United  States,"  said  Olney, 
"is  practically  sovereign  on  this  continent,  and  its  fiat  is  law 
upon  the  subjects  to  which  it  confines  its  interposition."  The 
President  made  this  correspondence  public  in  an  unexpected 
message  (December,  1895)  and  threatened  war  if  Great  Britain 
did  not  yield.  The  British  government  was  taken  aback  by 
this  sudden  interest  in  a  dispute  which  seemed  far  removed  from 
any  danger  to  the  United  States ;  but  on  reflection  it  yielded  and 
accepted  arbitration.  The  arbitrators  decided  (1899)  thai 
Great  Britain  was  entitled  to  most  of  the  territory  in  dispute. 


533 


ELECTION  OF  1896. 


534  Politics  and  Administration 

Meantime  the  election  of  1896  drew  near.  The  Democrats 
were  sharply  divided  on  the  silver  question.  Their  regular 

convention  (July, 
1896)  declared  for 
the  free  coinage  of 
silver  at  the  ratio 
of  16  to  i  (§  336), 
and  nominated 
William  J.  Bryan 
of  Nebraska,  who 
came  suddenly  to 
the  front  in  the 
convention  as  a  re- 
markable speaker 
and  leader.  The  People's  party  (§  343),  which  included  many 
former  Republicans,  also  supported  Bryan  for  President  on  a 
separate  ticket.  A  fraction  of  the  Democratic  party  organized 
as  "Sound  Money  Democrats"  and  made  an  opposing  nomina- 
tion. In  the  Republican  nominating  convention,  William 
McKinley  of  Ohio  was  the  logical  candidate  because  of  his 
attractive  personality  and  his  service  as  a  champion  of  protec- 
tion. The  platform  declared  against  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
unless  the  principal  nations  of  the  world  would  agree  to  it. 

In  the  campaign  of  1896  the  principal  issue  was  free  coinage, 
for  the  low  prices  of  silver,  wheat,  and  cotton  had  kept  the  West 
and  South  poor.  But  wheat  suddenly  rose  in  price  and  some 
of  the  western  farming  states  went  over  to  McKinley,  together 
with  four  southern  states.  He  was  elected  by  a  plurality  vote 
of  600,000  and  271  electoral  votes  to  176.  So  far  as  could  be 
judged  from  this  election,  a  considerable  majority  of  the  voters 
wished  high  protection  and  were  against  free  coinage  of  silver. 

345.   REVIEW 

The  Republicans  nearly  lost  their  hold  on  the  national  govern- 
ment in  the  election  of  1876.  Disputed  returns  were  settled 


Review  535 

by  a  special  electoral  commission  and  the  Republican  candidate 
was  declared  elected  by  185  electoral  votes  to  184.  Hayes 
had  a  long  fight  with  Congress  over  conditions  in  the  South. 
In  1878  the  mine  owners  and  other  "friends  of  silver"  forced 
Congress  to  resume  the  coinage  of  silver,  though  gold  remained 
the  standard. 

General  Garfield  was  elected  President  over  Hancock  in  1880 
but  was  assassinated  in  1881.  Under  his  successor,  Arthur, 
Congress  passed  an  act  for  improving  the  Civil  Service,  and  the 
tariff  of  1882  was  passed. 

Secretary  Elaine  tried  to  make  the  United  States  the  leader 
among  the  Latin  American  powers  and  to  secure  control  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal. 

In  1884,  Grover  Cleveland  was  elected  President,  the  first 
Democrat  since  1861.  He  stood  by  the  reform  of  the  Civil 
Service,  and  opposed  enlarging  the  expenditures  for  pensions 
and  other  drafts  on  the  treasury.  He  made  an  issue  of  the  tariff, 
and  on  that  issue  was  narrowly  defeated  in  the  election  of  1888 
by  Harrison.  The  Republicans  then  passed  the  more  highly 
protective  McKinley  tariff  of  1890.  Elaine  again  became  Secre- 
tary of  State  and,  without  much  effect,  urged  friendship  and 
an  understanding  with  the  Latin  American  states.  The  steady 
fall  of  silver  caused  a  continuation  of  the  silver  agitation ;  and 
by  the  Sherman  Act  of  1890  Congress  ordered  the  buying  of 
more  silver  for  coinage  by  the  government. 

Cleveland  was  reelected  President  in  1892,  and  the  commercial 
panic  of  1893  compelled  the  stopping  of  the  silver  purchases. 
In  1894  a  moderately  protective  tariff  was  passed  by  the  Demo- 
crats. In  his  second  term,  Cleveland  quarreled  with  Great 
Britain  over  a  question  of  Venezuelan  boundary.  William  J. 
Bryan,  a  free  silverite,  was  the  Democratic  candidate  in  1896, 
and  was  defeated  by  William  McKinley  of  Ohio. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  520,  531,  534,  566.  Bogart, 
Econ.  Hist.,  395.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  '338.  —  Dewey,  Nat.  Prob- 


536  Politics  and  Administration 

lems. — Dunning,  Reconstruction,  310.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,   76,  77, 
186,  227. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  652-817  passim.  —  Beard,  Contemp.  Am. 
Hist.,  chs.  iv-vii.  —  Burton,  John  Sherman,  chs.  xii-xvi.  —  Carpenter, 
A merica  in  Hawaii,  chs.  xi-xv.  —  Dewey,  Finan.  Hist.,  §§  159-161,  171- 
196;  Nat.  Problems,  chs.  ii,  iv,  v,  vii-xi,  xiii-xvii.  —  Dunning,  Recon- 
struction, chs.  xix-xxi.  —  Fish,  Am.  Diplomacy,  chs.  xxvi-xxviii.  —  Hart, 
Monroe  Doctrine,  169-206.  —  Haworth,  Disputed  Election;  Reconstruc- 
tion and  Union,  72-174. — Johnson,  Panama  Canal,  chs.  vi,  vii. — 
McCall,  T.  B.  Reed,  chs.  vi-xix.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,  80-256  passim. 

—  Rhodes,   U.S.,  VII.   194-291. —Sparks,  Nat.  Development,  chs.  vi- 
xix.  —  Stanwood,  Am.   Tariff  Controversies,  II.  192-394;  /.  G.  Elaine, 
chs.  vii-xii ;  Presidency,  I.  chs.  xxv-xxxi.  —  Taussig,  Tariff  Hist.,  230- 
409.  —  Williams,  R.  B.  Hayes,  I.  chs.  xxiv-xxvi,  II.  chs.  xxvii-xxxviii. 

—  Wilson,  Am.  People,  V.  104-204.  —  Woodburn,  Polit.  Parties,  chs. 
viii,  xviii,  xix. 

Sources.  Am.  Hist.  Leaflets,  nos.  6,  34.  —  Appletons'  Annual 
Cyclopedia,  1876  to  1897.  —  Beard,  Readings,  §§42-44,  83-87. — 
Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  711-763.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries, 
IV.  §§  158-173;  Source  Book,  §§  133-140.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Stat- 
utes, nos.  96-98,  100-105,  108,  109,  111-113,  I21-i23,  125,  126. 

Illustrative.  Anon.,  Democracy.  —  Atherton,  Senator  North.  — 
Burnett,  Through  One  Administration.  —  Ford,  Honorable  Peter  Stirling. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Public  services  of  one  of  the  following:  Elaine;  Hayes;  Tilden ; 
Arthur;  Cleveland;  Harrison;  Sherman.  [§  334]  —  (2)  Election  of 
1876  [§  334],  or  of  1880  [§  337],  or  of  1884.  [§  339]  —  (3)  Debates  on  the 
Pendleton  Civil  Service  Act  of  1883,  or  the  tariff  of  1883  [§  337],  or  the 
Tariff  of  1890.  [§  341]  —  (4)  First  Cuban  War.  [§  338]  —  (5)  Vetoes  by 
President  Cleveland.  [§  340]  —  (6)  Pan-American  Congress  of  1890. 
[§  342]  —  (7)  National  People's  party.  [§  343]  —  (8)  Debates  on  the 
Sherman  Silver  Act,  or  the  tariff  of  1894.  [§  343]  —  (9)  Public  services 
of  one  of  the  following  statesmen:  Olney;  Bryan;  McKinley.  [§  344] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  Effects  of  the  Centennial  Exposition.  [§  334]  —  (n)  Patrons  of 
Husbandry.  [§  334)  — (12)  Electoral  commission  of  1877.  [§  335]  — 
(13)  What  was  meant  by  free  coinage?  [§  336]  —  (14)  System  of  military 
pensions.  [§  340]  —  (15)  Claim  to  part  of  Bering  Sea.  [§  342]  —  (16)  Con- 
troversy over  Venezuela.  [§  344] 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

REGULATION  OF  BUSINESS   (1885-1895) 
346.   POPULATION  IN  1890 

BY  the  year  1885,  the  economic  effects  of  the  Civil  War  had 
almost  disappeared.  The  South  (as  will  be  shown  in  a  later 
chapter)  was  more  prosperous  than  ever  before,  and  an  immense 
new  area  had  been  opened  up  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The 
population  of  the  country,  as  shown  by  the  census  of  1890,  had 
increased  in  a  hundred  years  from  3,900,0x30  J;o  62,600,000, 
which  showed  that  the  population  had  almost  precisely  doubled 
in  every  period  of  twenty-five  years.  Both  the  older  and  the 
newer  parts  of  the  country  shared  in  this  remarkable  growth. 
New  England  and  the  middle  states  had  17,500,000  people,  the 
South  had  22,300,000,  and  the  great  block  of  states  from  Ohio  to 
Kansas  had  19,600,000.  Of  the  total  about  7,000,000  were 
negroes,  mostly  living  in  the  southern  states;  and  10,000,000 
were  immigrants,  most  of  whom  were  in  the  northern  states. 
More  than  one  fourth  of  all  the  people,  especially  in  the  northern 
states,  lived  in  cities  and  towns. 

This  rapid  growth  of  population  could  hardly  be  paralleled 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  was  possible  for  two  reasons. 
The  first  was  the  natural  increase  of  families  in  regions  where 
there  was  so  much  wild  land  and  so  much  demand  for  labor. 
The  other  was  the  foreign  immigration,  which  sprang  up  again  on 
a  large  scale  before  the  Civil  War  was  fairly  over.  From  1861 
to  1870,  2,300,000  immigrants  arrived;  from  1871  to  1880, 
2,800,000 ;  from  1881  to  1890, 5,200,000.  (See  page  362.)  They 
helped  to  make  up  the  rapid  growth  of  the  whole  population. 
537 


538  Regulation  of  Business 

As  in  the  earlier  period  of  immigration,  the  newcomers  helped 
to  build  up  the  cities.  The  Irish  and  Germans  and  their  de- 
scendants formed  a  large  fraction  of  the  populations  of  the 
coast  cities  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore ; 
and  were  almost  as  numerous  in  proportion  in  the  interior  cities 
that  were  now  growing  up,  such  as  the  five  Lake  cities  of  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  Detroit,  Milwaukee,  and  Chicago,  and  the  seven 
large  northern  river  cities,  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  St.  Louis, 
Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Kansas  City,  and  Pittsburgh.  The 
one  large  southern  city  was  New  Orleans.  On  the  Pacific 
coast,  Sa'n  Francisco  was  still  the  only  considerable  city,  but 
the  beginnings  of  great  ports  appeared  at  various  points  along 
the  Pacific  coast ;  and  Salt  Lake  City  and  Denver  grew  up  in 
the  interior. 

347.  AMERICAN  CITIES  (1865-1895) 

Throughout  the  Union,  villages  were  expanding  into  towns; 
towns  into  cities ;  small  cities  into  great  cities.  The  building 

and  the  government 
of  these  new  centers  of 
population  were  out- 
side the  previous  ex- 
perience of  Americans 
born  in  this  country, 
and  the  greater  part 
of  the  immigrants  had 
been  tillers  of  the  soil 
in  their  own  country, 
and  could  contribute 
little  to  the  problems 
of  city  government, 
while  they  added  very 
much  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  taking  care 
"THE  POINT,"  PITTSBURGH.  of  the  population. 


American  Cities  539 

All  the  cities  were  perplexed  by  the  presence  of  masses  of 
people  who  were  not  born  within  their  limits,  nor  even  within 
the  state  in  which  the  city  was  situated.  A  constant  stream 
poured  from  the  farming  districts  into  the  cities,  furnishing 
thousands  of  capable  citizens,  but  it  took  them  a  long  time  to 
learn  how  to  care  for  the  welfare  of  their  communities. 

Few  of  the  cities  foresaw  their  own  growth,  and  nearly  all 
were  badly  planned.  The  example  of  Philadelphia  in  laying 
out  the  streets  in  a  gridiron  of  squares  with  few  or  no  diagonal 
thoroughfares  was  followed  in  most  of  the  new  places,  such  as 
Buffalo,  Chicago,  and  St.  Louis.  Even  in  San  Francisco,  with 
its  hilly  site,  the  streets  were  laid  out  on  the  same  inconvenient 
plan.  The  railroads  were  allowed  to  enter  the  cities  on  the  same 
grade  as  the  streets,,  and  in  many  cases  ran  right  through  the 
middle  of  the  thoroughfares ;  as  their  business  grew,  they  greatly 
interfered  with  the  city  traffic. 

The  stone  pavements  were  ragged  and  uneven,  and  many  of 
the  western  cities  laid  down  pavements  of  wooden  blocks,  which 
rapidly  wore  out.  Most  of  the  cities  were  dirty  and  slovenly,  and 
no  city  till  about  1890 
was  regularly  and  sys- 
tematically cleaned. 
Few  were  provided 
with  sufficient  sewers 
and  an  abundant  water 
supply.  In  the  rich 
city  of  Philadelphia, 

many  houses   still 

A  DOUBLE-DECK  HORSE  CAR,  ABOUT  1875. 
turned  their  waste  into 

the  city  by  surface  drainage.  Horse  cars  had  loijg  been  run- 
ning in  many  cities  and  the  lines  were  extended  to  carry  people 
into  the  suburbs.  The  growth  of  the  cities  led  to  rapid 
changes  in  the  centers  of  business,  so  that  old  wholesale  streets 
were  abandoned,  and  old  residential  quarters  were  invaded 
by  business  buildings.  Most  cities  were  proud  of  fine  resi- 


54-O  Regulation  of  Business 

dence  streets  such  as  Euclid  Avenue  in  Cleveland  and  Michigan 
Avenue  in  Chicago,  with  their  handsome  houses  and  broad 
and  beautiful  grounds ;  but  the  coal  smoke  brought  dirt  and 
grime  even  in  the  best  quarters. 

The  city  governments  never  caught  up  with  their  immense 
tasks.     From  1868  to  1871  a  terrible  object  lesson  was. given 

to  the  whole  country 
as  to  what  might  hap- 
pen in  the  richest  cities 
whenever  a  set  of 
thieves  managed  to 
get  hold  of  the  machin- 
ery of  the  city  govern- 
ment. A  gang  arose  in 
New  York  known  as  the 
"Tweed  Ring,"  headed 
by  "Boss  Tweed,"  a 
bad  character  who  be- 
gan life  as  a  fighting 
fireman  and  managed 
to  worm  himself  into 
the  government  of 
the  county  and  city  of 
New  York.  They  sys- 
tematically plundered 

)  1  that    great     city    out 

of  about  $100,000,000. 
These  official  criminals 
controlled  and  falsified 
the  count  of  the  votes, 

so  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  turn  them  out  of  office.  Two 
of  the  newspapers  of  the  time  fought  the  bandits,  notwithstand- 
ing big  offers  if  they  would  hold  their  peace.  George  Jones, 
proprietor  of  the  New  York  Times,  belabored  them  in  his  paper, 
and  Thomas  Nast,  one  of  the  first  cartoonists  in  the  country, 


WAITING  FOR  THE  STORM  TO  BLOW  OVER. 
(Cartoon  by  Thomas  Nast.     The  largest  vul- 
ture represents  Boss  Tweed.) 


Corporations  and  Trusts  541 

from  week  to  week  pictured  the  thieves  in  Harper's  Weekly. 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  a  democratic  leader  in  the  city  and  state 
(later  candidate  for  President,  §  334),  took  the  field  against 
them,  organized  a  political  movement,  and  by  a  desperate  effort 
the  property  owners  and  voters  hi  New  York  recovered  con- 
trol of  their  own  city.  The  ring  was  broken  up,  the  con- 
spirators scattered,  and  Tweed  was  sent  to  prison. 

Other  cities,  especially  Philadelphia,  suffered  from  similar  or- 
ganized plundering.  The  trouble  was  that  the  city  governments 
were  not  efficient  for  their  purpose.  The  mayors  were,  by  this 
time,  nearly  all  elected  by  popular  vote  and  there  were  regular 
police  departments,  fire  departments,  and  school  departments; 
but  there  were  too  many  officials  over  whom  the  mayor  had  no 
control,  the  city  councils  were  badly  organized,  most  of  them  in 
two  parts  which  quarreled  with  each  other.  There  was  not  a 
single  city  in  the  land  that  had  a  city  government  strong  and 
wise  enough  to  take  charge  of  the  activities  that  were  rapidly 
increasing.  They  allowed  mean  slums  to  grow  up.  They 
fell  behind  on  their  schools.  They  all  ran  into  debt. 

348.  CORPORATIONS  AND  TRUSTS 

The  defects  in  city  government,  and  also  the  defects  in  state, 
county,  and  village  government,  were  the  more  amazing  because 
American  business  men  showed  such  remarkable  skill  in  or- 
ganizing great  business  concerns.  They  found  no  danger  in 
putting  the  control  of  great  private  enterprises  into  the  hands 
of  men  who  showed  the  greatest  ability  and  skill.  Yet  in  their 
governments  they  made  little  effort  to  reap  the  benefits  of  do- 
ing things  on  a  big  scale  by  strong  men.  The  most  striking 
feature  of  this  time  was  the  growth  of  corporations  and  the  de- 
velopment of  the  very  large  and  powerful  corporations  which 
came  to  be  called  trusts. 

This  system  of  corporations,  which  grew  steadily  from  the 
time  of  the  first  United  States  Bank  (§  141),  proved  to  be  well 
suited  for  the  conditions  of  the  immense  business  which  was 


542  Regulation  of  Business 

developing  in  the  United  States.  With  the  exception  of  na- 
tional banks,  corporations  which  carried  on  business  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  some  of  the  Pacific  railroads,  Con- 
gress chartered  none  of  these  companies.  As  early  as  1820 
some  of  the  states  provided  a  system  of  general  laws,  under 
which  those  who  wished  to  form  a  company  could  do  so  without 
going  to  the  legislature  for  a  special  charter. 

Business  corporations  of  all  kinds  enjoyed  several  valuable 
privileges:  (i)  They  had  the  right  to  hold  property  and  use 
it  for  their  purposes,  like  individuals  and  firms.  This  included 
the  important  right  to  carry  on  business  in  other  states  than 
that  in  which  they  were  chartered.  (2)  They  could'  sue  and  be 
sued  just  as  if  they  were  persons.  (3)  The  stockholders  were 
not  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  corporation,  except  to  the  amount 
of  their  own  holdings  in  the  corporation,  and  in  some  states, 
a  fixed  proportion  beyond  that.  (4)  Corporations  could  be 
stockholders  and  managers  in  other  corporations,  and  that  made 
it  easy  to  roll  up  great  businesses  and  large  capital.  (5)  Under 
an  early  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  the  charter 
of  a  company  was  considered  a  "contract,"  which  could  not 
be  repealed  or  otherwise  impaired  by  the  state  which  had  granted 
it  (Constitution,  Article  i,  Section  10,  Clause  i).  To  meet  that 
difficulty  many  of  the  states  passed  laws  providing  that  charters 
thereafter  granted  should  contain  a  clause  making  them  sub- 
ject to  repeal.  In  addition  any  charters  could  be  taken  away  by 
the  courts,  if  it  could  be  shown  that  they  were  misused  by  the 
companies  that  held  them ;  but  that  was  a  difficult  and  expen- 
sive process.  The  great  advantages  of  corporations  have  been 
discussed  elsewhere  (§§  141,  248,  330).  They  enabled  the  small 
investor  to  place  his  money  under  guidance  of  able  business 
men ;  they  could  do  business  freely  all  over  the  Union ;  they 
relieved  the  stockholder  from  the  risk  of  losing  his  all. 

Till  after  the  Civil  War,  the  state  and  national  governments 
paid  little  attention  to  the  corporations,  except  the  railroads. 
These  companies  were  very  powerful  in  some  communities. 


Public  Control  of  Railroads  543 

As  an  example,  humorists  used  to  call  New  Jersey  "the  State 
of  Camden  and  Amboy,"  referring  to  a  railroad  that  crossed 
the  state.  In  the  sixties,  the  states  began  to  set  up  railroad 
commissions  —  executive  bodies  which  made  rules  for  the 
operation  of  the  roads,  and  in  some  cases  fixed  the  rates;  and 
about  that  time  the  country  woke  up  to  the  fact  that  some  other 
corporations  were  becoming  so  powerful  that  they  threatened 
to  override  the  rest  of  the  community,  (i)  A  corporation  might 
be  so  rich  and  powerful  that  it  simply  ignored  the  laws  intended 
to  regulate  it.  (2)  The  corporation,  though  acting  within 
the  law,  might  acquire  a  monopoly  of  some  line  of  business, 
and  thus  extinguish  competition.  (3)  One  corporation  might 
own  another  corporation,  and  mix  up  the  accounts  of  the  con- 
cerns, often  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  small  owners  of  stocks, 
as  in  the  case  of  certain  steamship  companies.  (4)  To  float 
new  enterprises,  great  bankers  and  capitalists  sometimes  formed 
"syndicates"  with  secret  and  complicated  interests  and  obli- 
gations. (5)  Occasionally  several  corporations,  instead  of  com- 
bining, made  an  agreement  that  the  stock  of  all  the  corporations 
should  be  held  and  voted  "in  trust"  by  a  body  of  trustees. 
Only  in  the  last  case  should  the  term  "trust,"  strictly  speak- 
ing, be  applied ;  but  the  name  was  loosely  used  for  any 
large  corporation  or  combination  of  corporations  which  tried 
to  control  a  large  line  of  business.  A  very  common  form  of 
"trust"  was  a  company  or  group  of  companies  which  con- 
trolled some  public  service,  such  as  water,  gas,  or  traction. 
Such  a  group  of  men  might  hold  a  city  or  state  at  its  mercy. 

349.  PUBLIC  CONTROL  OF  RAILROADS 

The  great  corporations  most  in  the  public  eye  down  to  1885 
were  still  the  railroad  companies.  Railway  kings  like  William 
H.  Vanderbilt  of  the  New  York  Central,  Jay  Gould  of  the  Erie, 
Edgar  Thomson  of  the  Pennsylvania,  and  C.  P.  Huntington 
of  the  Southern  Pacific,  perfprmed  a  public  service  by  consoli- 
dating small  roads  into  systems  thousands  of  miles  in  extent, 


544  Regulation  of  Business 

especially  eight  or  nine  "trunk  lines"  from  Chicago  to  New 
York,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  transcontinental  routes.  The 
only  public  control  regulating  the  railroads  was  that  of  the 
state  governments,  which  passed  acts  on  the  speed  of  trains, 
frequency  of  stops,  and  other  working  details,  and  also  tried 
to  reduce  rates  for  passengers  and  freight.  The  states,  how- 
ever, had  no  legal  control  over  traffic  passing  from  one  state  to 
another,  for  "interstate  commerce"  was,  by  the  text  of  the  Con- 
stitution, subject  only  to  the  control  of  the  federal  government. 
By  ancient  principles  of  the  common  law  of  England,  which 
were  applied  in  most  states,  a  "common  carrier"  is  obliged 
to  accept  on  equal  terms  any  passengers  and  freight  that  offer. 
This  is  only  fair,  inasmuch  as  the  railroads  have  many  valuable 
privileges,  such  as  the  right  to  condemn  and  purchase  private 
property  necessary  for  their  roadbed.  Nevertheless,  the  rail- 
roads, especially  the  big  ones,  looked  upon  their  service  as  a 
private  business  which  they  could  control  as  they  liked.  Hence 
they  fell  into  the  habit  of  making  discriminations  between  ship- 
pers: (i)  They  gave  special  —  often  secret  —  rates  to  large 
shippers  and  favored  friends.  (2)  They  charged  higher  freights 
for  a  shorter  distance  —  say  from  Chicago  to  Pittsburgh  — 
than  for  a  longer  distance  on  the  same  route  —  say  from  Chi- 
cago to  New  York.  (3)  They  formed  "pools"  or  agreements 


JETTIES  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 


Regulation  of  Railroads  by  Congress        545 

by  which  all  the  freight  offered  was  arbitrarily  divided  among 
competing  roads. 

One  reason  why  the  federal  government  for  many  years 
let  the  railroads  alone  was  that  it  was  putting  its  energy  and 
money  on  waterways.  Every  year  or  two  after  1870  a  river 
and  harbor  bill  passed  Congress,  containing  appropriations  for 
sea  and  lake  harbors  and  for  improving  rivers,  many  of  which 
were  of  small  account.  Congress  spent  large  sums  on  the  Missis- 
sippi River  and  Great  Lakes.  In  1879  Captain  Eads  built 
a  system  of  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  which  made 
New  Orleans  a  deep-sea  harbor.  For  the  enormous  Lake  trade 
in  iron  ore,  coal,  grain,  and  lumber,  the  government  built 


LOCKS  OF  THE  "  Soo  "  (SAULT  STE.  MARIE)  CANAL,  COMPLETED  IN  1896. 

ship  canals  between  Lake  Superior  and  Lake  Huron,  around 
the  falls  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  through  St.  Clair  Lake  and  the 
Detroit  River. 

350.   REGULATION  OF  RAILROADS  BY  CONGRESS  (1887-1890) 

Eventually  public  sentiment,  headed  by  Senator  Cullom  of 
Illinois,  forced  Congress  to  pass  the  ''Interstate  Commerce 
Act"  (February  4,  1887)  regulating  commerce  between  the 


546  Regulation  of  Business 

states,  on  the  following  principles:  (i)  Railroads  operating  in 
more  than  one  state  were  forbidden  to  make  a  higher  charge  to 
one  customer  than  to  another  for  the  same  service.  (2)  They 
were  forbidden  to  form  "pools."  (3)  All  freight  rates  were 
to  be  publicly  posted  and  could  be  neither  raised  nor  lowered 
without  notice.  (4)  Unreasonable  rates  could  be  reviewed  by 
the  commission.  (5)  By  the  "short  haul  clause,"  no  railroad 
could  charge  more  for  carrying  freight  a  shorter  distance  than 
it  charged  for  carrying  freight  over  the  same  line  to  a  greater 
distance.  (6)  The  roads  were  obliged  to  make  sworn  reports 
of  their  business  to  the  government. 

How  should  these  new  and  drastic  regulations  be  carried  out  ? 
Other  acts  of  Congress,  such  as  the  land  laws,  were  put  into 
action  by  officials  whose  duties  and  powers  were  clearly  set 
forth  by  statute.  The  ordinary  criminal  laws  were  made 
effective  by  suits  brought  before  the  courts.  Here  was  a  new 
problem,  for  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  provide  a  body  of 
men  expert  in  railroad  affairs,  to  decide  what  was,  and  what  was 
not,  reasonable  in  railroad  business.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
necessary  to  create  something  like  a  court,  which  could  hear 
complaints  and  make  decisions,  such  as  the  regular  courts  had 
been  making. 

Congress  solved  this  new  problem  by  creating  a  new  kind  of 
agency  for  the  federal  government,  following  the  example  of 
some  of  the  state  railroad  commissions.  It  created  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  of  five  members.  This  powerful 
body,  which  was  to  control  the  railroads  for  the  government, 
was  not  attached  to  any  of  the  great  departments  such  as  that 
of  Justice,  or  of  the  Interior.  It  was  responsible  only  to  Con- 
gress. On  the  other  hand,  though  the  commissioners  could 
hold  court  and  examine  witnesses  and  make  legal  decisions, 
they  were  subject  to  appeals  to  the  regular  United  States 
courts  on  many  points. 

Hence  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  obliged 
to  go  slowly  and  ask  Congress  for  amendments  to  the  Inter- 


Regulation  of  Trusts  by  Congress  547 

state  Commerce  Law  from  time  to  time.  Congress  gradually 
increased  the  powers  of  the  commission,  limited  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  ordinary  courts,  and  passed  several  additional 
statutes  on  railroad  business.  For  instance,  by  the  so-called 
"Original  Package  Law"  (1890)  Congress  made  it  possible  to 
prevent  the  carrying  of  liquor  into  states  which  prohibited 
the  sale  of  it.  By  the  statute  of  1893,  the  railroads  were  com- 
pelled to  adopt  and  use  a  uniform  car  coupler,  so  as  to  eliminate 
the  numerous  accidents  from  the  old  method.  The  very  im- 
portant act  of  1895  forbade  the  carrying  of  mail  or  express 
matter  by  the  United  States  Post  Office  or  by  express  com- 
panies if  intended  for  lotteries  or  gift  concerns.  Congress  also 
(1899)  made  a  settlement  with  those  Pacific  roads  (§  329) 
which  had  received  money  aid  from  the  government.  In  1899 
they  owed  $64,000,000  on  original  bonds  and  $72,000,000  of 
interest  paid  by  the  United  States.  Rather  reluctantly,  the 
roads  finally  repaid  nearly  the  whole  of  this  great  sum  to  the 
government. 

351.   REGULATION  OF  TRUSTS  BY  CONGRESS  (1890) 

The  success  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  led  Congress 
to  try  its  hand  at  regulating  large  corporations,  for  up  to  this 
time  the  only  way  of  dealing  with  corporations  was  by  state 
laws.  Many  such  laws  proved  successful  for  business  carried 
on  wholly  within  the  limits  of  one  state.  Public  commissions 
were  set  up  to  regulate  gas,  electric  light,  and  water  companies 
and  to  control  street  car  companies  and  other  so-called  "public 
utilities"  which  were  serving  great  numbers  of  persons.  Com- 
missions or  commissioners  were  also  appointed  to  regulate  in- 
surance, banking,  and  other  sorts  of  private  business.  In  many 
cases,  the  price  for  lights  and  for  carrying  passengers  by  city 
transit  systems  was  fixed  by  law.  Even  railroad  passenger 
fares  were  established  in  many  states  at  so  many  cents  a  mile. 

Popular  feeling  was  such  that  Congress,  by  the  so-called 
"Sherman  Antitrust  Law"  (July  2,  1890)  extended  some  of 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  34 


548  Regulation  of  Business 

the  principles  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  to  all  corpora- 
tions which  carried  on  a  business  from  state  to  state  or  from  the 
United  States  to  a  foreign  country.  The  act  provided  that 
any  attempt  by  such  corporations  to  "monopolize"  any  line 
of  business  should  be  punishable  by  both  criminal  and  civil 
suits.  This  applied  to  manufacturing  and  trading  companies 
and  also  to  railroads ;  and  the  law  made  no  distinction  between 
cases  where  such  combinations  "in  restraint  of  trade"  were 
hurtful  to  the  public,  and  those  cases  where  the  merger  of 
business  concerns  and  the  joint  action  of  corporations  were  an 
advantage  to  the  community.  "Good  corporations"  and  "bad 
corporations"  were  both  forbidden  to  combine  so  as  to  secure 
a  monopoly. 

One  method  of  bringing  corporations  to  book  was  to  compel 
them  by  law  to  keep  their  accounts  on  a  uniform  system.  An- 
other way  was  by  taxes,  which  required  them  to  pay  for  their 
privileges  and  also  to  reveal  the  amount  and  profit  of  their 
business.  In  New  York,  as  in  other  states  also,  many  of  the 
traction  companies  received  from  the  cities  without  payment, 
the  immensely  valuable  privilege  of  using  the  streets,  and 
then  issued  bonds  on  the  money  value  of  that  privilege.  The 
state  government  in  1899,  under  Governor  Roosevelt,  taxed 
the  traction  companies  on  the  capitalized  value  of  this  privi- 
lege which  they  had  received  from  the  public.  Some  cities 
even  attempted  to  take  over  the  traction  lines  and  make  them 
a  public  service.  Municipal  subways  built  by  the  cities  of 
Boston  (beginning  in  1898)  and  New  York  (beginning  in  1904) 
were  owned  by  the  cities,  but  were  leased  to  private  companies 
to  operate. 

These  measures  checked  and  guarded  some  of  the  corpora- 
tions which  had  become  dangerously  powerful,  but  had  no 
effect  upon  that  part  of  the  business  of  corporations  which 
passed  from  one  state  to  another.  Business  men,  firms,  and 
small  corporations  were  being  driven  out  of  business.  In  some 
cases,  prices  were  cut  down  in  a  particular  state  or  city  till  the 


Regulation  of  Labor  549 

small  competitors  were  killed  out  and  then  the  big  corporation 
had  a  monopoly. 

352.  REGULATION  OF  LABOR  (1880-1895) 

The  laborers,  especially  those  employed  in  manufacturing 
and  transportation,  felt  the  pressure  of  these  great  organiza- 
tions and  did  their  best  to  meet  it  by  powerful  organizations  of 
their  own.  For  many  years  they  had  been  managing  large 
unions  made  up  of  all  the  men  that  would  join  out  of  a  par- 
ticular trade.  Most  of  them  paid  sick  benefits  and  burial  ex- 
penses, but  their  main  purpose  was  to  improve  the  conditions 
of  work  hours  and  wages.  The  most  successful  of  these  unions 
was  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  which  readily 
secured  favorable  conditions  of  work  and  pay,  with  very  few 
strikes.  The  idea  of  one  general  controlling  union  was  still  alive. 
The  Knights  of  Labor  (§  332)  could  not  hold  their  ground  in 
that  direction,  but  in  1886  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  was  formed  to  unite  so  far  as  possible  the  special 
trades  unions  into  a  national  body,  which  should  have 
authority  to  order  men  in  one  trade  to  strike  in  order  to 
help  strikers  in  another  trade.  The  Federation  through 
strikes  pressed  th'e  issue  whether  employers  would  "recognize 
the  union "  —  that  is,  would  make  agreements  with  their 
employees  only  through  officers  of  the  union  —  and  would 
establish  the  "closed  shop" — that  is,  would  employ  only 
union  hands. 

From  this  time  the  labor  unions  became  an  important  factor 
in  business.  They  accumulated  funds  for  strike  benefits  and 
other  purposes,  by  laying  high  initiation  fees  and  dues  on  mem- 
bers. They  issued  "union  cards"  to  members  in  good  stand- 
ing, without  which,  in  some  trades,  no  one  could  get  a  job. 
They  made  every  effort  to  raise  the  wages  of  laborers  employed 
by  the  various  governments  so  as  to  create  a  high  standard  of 
earnings  for  private  employment.  They  avoided  politics,  for 
they  saw  that  they  were  not  numerous  enough  to  make  a  sue- 


550  Regulation  of  Business 

cessful  national  party  of  their  own  and  therefore  remained 
divided  between  the  main  parties. 

The  laws  had  long  since  ceased  to  hold  strikes  to  be  a  breach 
of  the  peace.  Nobody  was  liable  to  be  punished  for  refusing 
to  do  the  work  which  he  had  agreed  to  do,  except  soldiers  and 
sailors ;  and  if  two  men,  or  any  larger  number  of  men,  united 
in  a  strike  —  that  is,  in  refusing  to  work  —  they  were  not  com- 
mitting any  offense.  If,  however,  such  men  attempted  to  compel 
others  to  strike  by  threats  or  violence,  they  could  be  dealt 
with  by  the  law,  and  some  courts  even  punished  men  and  women 
for  "picketing";  that  is,  for  standing  near  the  entrance  of 
factories  trying  to  persuade  the  hands  to  give  up  their  jobs. 

Another  labor  method  was  the  "boycott,"  which  was  an 
agreement  not  to  buy  goods  from  the  concerns  against  which 
there  was  a  strike.  In  some  street  car  strikes,  people  were 
beaten  or  killed  because  they  patronized  the  cars  which  were 
run  by  non-union  employees.  The  courts  at  that  time  almost 
always  held  that  the  boycott  was  not  legal,  although  they  did 
not  deal  so  severely  with  the  "black  list,"  which  was  an  agree- 
ment between  employers  not  to  give  work  to  individuals  who 
they  thought  were  having  a  bad  influence  on  their  hands. 

The  labor  men  were  successful  in  putting  several  kinds  of 
work  on  the  footing  of  state  regulated  industries.  Examina- 
tion boards  were  created  for  such  trades  as  plumbing,  running 
stationary  engines,  and  barbering,  and  nobody  could  obtain 
work  who  was  not  certified  by  those  examiners.  The  states ^ 
also  began  to  legislate  for  the  welfare  of  laborers  by  reducing 
the  legal  hours  of  labor  and  passing  acts  to  compel  employers 
to  make  dangerous  machinery  safe. 

In  some  trades  the  result  was  a  kind  of  war  between  the 
employers  and  the  employed,  each  striving  to  build  up  a  power- 
ful organization,  with  plenty  of  reserve  money  to  use  to  support 
strikes  or  lockouts.  Some  manufacturers  joined  in  a  sort  of 
union  to  protect  themselves.  The  factory  of  the  president  of 
that  union  was  put  on  the  "unfair  list"  by  the  American  Fed- 


Era  of  Strikes 


551 


eration  of  Labor.  The  natural  tendency  of  the  unions  was 
to  raise  wages  and  to  compel  the  payment  of  wages  in  cash 
instead  of  in  "store  pay  "  ;  that  is,  goods  from  stocks  carried  for 
that  purpose  by  the  companies. 

353.   ERA  OF  STRIKES 

A  test  of  the  power  of  the  new  labor  unions  was  a  series  of 
great  strikes.     The  first  came  in  1886  on  the  Gould  system  of 


railroads  leading  southwest  from  St.  Louis.  In  1892,  in  a 
fearful  strike  at  the  Homestead  Iron  Works  near  Pittsburgh, 
a  body  of  private  guards,  furnished  by  a  detective  agency 
and  sworn  in  as  constables,  were  fired  upon  by  the  strikers, 
several  of  them  were  killed,  and  wounded  men  were  put  to 
death  by  infuriated  men  and  women.  There  were  many 
strikes  during  1893  and  1894,  of  which  the  worst  began  in  a 
strike  at  the  Pullman  Car  Works  near  Chicago.  The  Ameri- 


5$  2  Regulation  of  Business 

can  Railway  Union,  through  their  president,  Eugene  V.  Debs, 
took  up  the  dispute,  and  demanded  that  the  company  settle 
it  with  them,  as  representing  organized  labor.  When  the  com- 
pany refused,  Debs  called  out  the  railroad  men  on  a  "sym- 
pathetic strike."  On  one  road  after  another  they  refused  to 
handle,  first  Pullman  cars,  then  the  cars  of  the  "tied-up  roads," 
till  the  whole  railway  business  of  Chicago,  and  indeed  of  the 
whole  great  country  west  of  Chicago,  was  in  confusion.  Non- 
union men  (called  "scabs"  by  the  strikers)  who  were  employed 
by  the  railroads  were  beaten,  and  some  of  them  killed.  The 
unions  disclaimed  responsibility  for  these  acts  of  violence. 

All  these  great  strikes  at  last  broke  down.  As  the  govern- 
ment of  Illinois  did  not  keep  order,  President  Cleveland  made 
use  of  the  only  organized  force  adequate  for  such  cases  by 
calling  out  United  States  troops  to  prevent  the  obstruction  of 
United  States  mails  and  of  interstate  commerce  (July  8,  1894). 
This  broke  the  strike,  and  the  Pullman  Company  then  came  to 
an  understanding  with  its  employees.  A  federal  court  served 
an  injunction  on  Debs,  forbidding  him  to  interfere  with  inter- 
state commerce.  As  he  ignored  this  injunction,  Debs  was  im- 
prisoned for  contempt  of  court,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  held  the  sentence  good. 

354.   REGULATION  OF  IMMIGRATION 

A  large  part  of  the  wage  earners  by  this  time  were  immigrants 
or  their  children,  for  the  number  of  immigrants  was  greatly 
increasing  (§  346),  In  the  single  year  1882  it  ran  up  to  nearly 
800,000.  (See  page  362.)  When  times  were  hard,  as  after  the 
commercial  panic  of  1873  and  the  financial  crisis  of  1893, 
immigration  dropped  off;  but  as  business  increased,  the  num- 
bers were  enlarged. 

Down  to  about  1885  nearly  all  the  immigrants  came  from 
Scandinavian  countries,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  and  Canada, 
but  from  that  time  on  these  elements  all  diminished  in  number 
and  their  place  was  taken  by  a  large  immigration  from  Italy, 


Regulation  of  Immigration 


THE  LANDING  OF  IMMIGRANTS. 

Austria-Hungary  (mostly  Slavic  peoples),  and  Russia.  Under 
the  operation  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  laws  (§  332),  the  importa- 
tion of  Chinese  was  cut  off;  but  about  1894  began  a  Japanese 
immigration  which  increased  till  it  was  30,000  a  year. 

Among  the  immigrants  were  many  French  Canadians, 
who  found  ready  employment  in  the  textile  mills  of  New  Eng- 
land. For  a  time  they  saved  their  money  and  went  back  to 
Canada,  but  before  1890  they  began  to  settle  as  permanent 
residents  of  our  country.  They  furnished  the  first  consider- 
able movement  of  people  of  the  Latin  races  into  the  United 
States.  Alongside  of  it  went  an  increasing  immigration  of 
Italians,  who  soon  became  the  most  dependable  source  of  rough 
labor  by  large  gangs,  work  which  previously  had  been  done  by 
men  of  the  English  stock,  the  Irish,  and  the  Germans.  The 
Italians  also  furnished  many  skilled  laborers  in  artistic  indus- 
tries, such  as  the  molding  of  plaster. 


554  Regulation  of  Business 

The  carrying  of  immigrants  was  a  part  of  commerce  between 
foreign  nations  and  the  United  States,  which  was  under  the 
exclusive  control  of  the  federal  government.  National  regu- 
lation began  (1848)  with  laws  for  the  proper  accommodation  and 
treatment  of  immigrants  while  on  board  ship.  Then  in  1884 
Congress  created  an  immigration  commissioner.  The  first  law 
for  limiting  immigration  was  an  act  prohibiting  the  entrance  of 
persons  convicted  of  crimes  in  their  own  country  "  other  than 
political"  (1875).  "Coolie"  (Chinese)  laborers  were  also  ex- 
cluded. Down  to  1882  nobody  else  was  shut  out,  but  in  that 
year  Congress  forbade  the  coming  in  of  "  any  lunatic,  idiot,  or 
any  person  unable  to  take  care  of  himself  or  herself."  In  1885, 
under  the  influence  of  the  labor  unions,  Congress  prohibited  the 
bringing  in  of  "contract  laborers"  (§  332).  In  1891  the  list 
was  extended  to  include  insane  persons,  paupers,  persons  ill  of 
contagious  diseases,  and  polygamists.  In  1903,  after  the  assas- 
sination of  McKinley,  anarchists  were  added.  Congress  also 
laid  a  head  tax  beginning  at  50  cents  but  raised  to  $4  per  head 
(1907). 

Though  several  thousand  people  were  sent  back  every  year 
because  they  were  found  to  be  included  in  this  list,  the  number 
of  immigrants  continued  to  grow  till,  in  1907,  it  reached  the 
high-water  mark  of  1,285,349  in  a  single  year.  (See  page  362.) 
As  the  immigrants  saved  money,  many  of  them  went  back  to 
visit  their  old  homes,  but  nearly  all  returned  to  the  United 
States.  The  Italians  and  some  other  races  showed  a  desire  to 
return  home  and  live  there,  so  that  in  a  single  year  over  300,- 
ooo  people  have  sometimes  gone  back.  They  sent  or  took  with 
them  their  savings,  but  of  course  they  left  behind  the  buildings 
and  roads  and  bridges  that  they  had  built  and  the  manufac- 
tured goods  which  they  had  helped  to  produce. 

355.   POLITICAL  REFORMS  (1885-1895) 

While  thus  endeavoring  to  control  powerful  corporations 
and  to  pay  attention  to  the  rising  demands  of  the  laborers, 


Political  Reforms  555 

the  national  and  state  governments  also  took  in  hand  some 
of  the  defects  of  their  own  system.  The  most  striking  instance 
of  political  reform  was  the  progress  in  improving  the  civil 
service  of  the  United  States.  President  Cleveland  did  not 
disturb  the  "  classified  "  service  as  he  found  it  (§  340),  but  out- 
side of  that  limited  number  he  allowed  thousands  of  removals 
to  make  room  for  party  friends.  Under  Cleveland's  successor, 
President  Harrison,  Theodore  Roosevelt  became  chairman  of 
the  National  Civil  Service  Commission  and  made- it  the  busi-. 
ness  of  the  commission  to  follow  up  instances  of  violajjojrof  the 
rules.  It  was  he  who  gave  the  name  of  "  merit  system  "  to  the 
method  of  admitting  to  the  public  service  those  who  had  passed 
among  the  highest  in  a  competitive  examination.  By  the  time 
Cleveland  came  in  again  in  1893,  44,000  offices  had  been  placed 
in  the  classified  service,  and  he  made  further  additions  to  the 
classified  list. 

Several  other  defects  in  the  workings  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment were  corrected  in  this  period.  A  Presidential  Succession 
Act  (1886)  provided  that  in  case  of  the  death  or  disability  of 
the  President  and  Vice  President,  the  Secretary  of  State  (if 
constitutionally  eligible  to  the  office)  should  fill  the  vacancy, 
and  if  he  were  disabled,  some  other  member  of  the  Cabinet,  in 
a  specified  succession.  The  danger  felt  in  1877  in  the  count  of 
electoral  votes  for  President  was  removed  by  an  act  (1887)  for 
accepting  the  certificate  of  state  authorities  as  final  in  deter- 
mining the  electors  chosen  by  each  state.  The  Tenure  of  Office 
Act  of  1867,  which  led  to  the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson 
(§  318),  was  completely  repealed  (1887).  The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives often  found  its  business  blocked  by  "  filibustering  " 
motions  and  by  amendments  which  were  intended  only  to  kill 
time;  and  under  the  leadership  of  the  Speaker,  Thomas  B. 
Reed,  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time,  adopted  in  1890  a 
new  code  of  rules  giving  the  Speaker  more  power  to  prevent 
such  practices. 

The  states  felt  the  reforming  spirit,  and  two  of  them  —  New 


556  Regulation  of  Business 

York  (1883)  and  Massachusetts  (1884)  —  passed  statutes  for 
the  merit  system ;  and  it  was  later  introduced  into  Chicago 
(1895)  and  other  cities.  The  cities  tried  to  improve  their 
governments  by  securing  new  charters  from  the  legislatures. 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  several  smaller  places  united  in 
1897  in  the  city  of  "Greater  New  York,"  which  at  once  became 
second  in  population  and  wealth  only  to  London.  Neverthe- 
less the  state  and  city  governments  were  still  clashing,  prin- 
cipally because  the  governors  and  mayors  were  not  allowed  to 
be  business  managers  like  the  heads  of  great  corporations,  but 
had  to  work  with  other  officials  whom  they  had  not  appointed 
and  could  not  control.  Hence  it  was  hard  to  secure  efficiency. 

•    356.   REVIEW 

Side  by  side  with  the  political  questions  after  1884,  went 
a  great  change  of  public  sentiment  with  regard  to  the  rela- 
tions of  government  to  business.  Population  showed  nearly 
63,000,000  in  1890,  including  several  million  immigrants, 
distributed  all  over  the  Union.  The  cities  did  not  take  sufficient 
pains  to  provide  for  their  future  population,  and  suffered  from 
many  scandals,  especially  in  New  York,  which  was  looted  in 
the  seventies  by  the  "Tweed  Ring." 

The  system  of  corporations  was  greatly  extended.  Com- 
panies were  formed  for  all  kinds  of  business  and  enjoyed  great 
privileges  of  trade,  granted  by  the  states.  About  1865  the 
states  began  to  regulate  railroads,  and  then  other  corporations. 
Some  were  so  great  and  powerful  as  to  defy  public  control,  and 
the  name  of  "trust"  was  applied  to  them,  and  loosely  to  all 
large  corporations. 

The  railroads  could  be  regulated  by  the  states  on  "intrastate" 
business  but  not  on  "interstate"  business.  Some  of  them 
granted  special  rates  and  facilities  to  particular  places  or 
corporations.  Congress  made  attempts  to  develop  water  trans- 
portation so  as  to  compete  with  the  railroads.  Then  it  passed 
the  so-called  "Sherman  Act"  (1890),  which  provided  for  pun- 


References  557 

ishment  of  attempts  to  "monopolize"  any  line  of  interstate 
business. 

The  laborers,  on  their  side,  were  founding  powerful  unions 
in  many  great  lines  of  trade ;  and  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  became  a  central  authority.  They  urged  the  states 
and  Congress  to  improve  the  conditions  of  labor,  and  made 
use  of  strikes  and  boycotts.  Antagonisms  grew  up  between 
the  trades  unions  and  the  employers,  leading  to  violent  strikes, 
in  which  many  strikebreakers  were  killed.  President  Cleveland 
and  the  Supreme  Court  used  the  authority  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment to  stop  this  violence. 

Conditions  of  immigration  changed :  fewer  people  came  from 
English-speaking  countries,  and  more  from  French  Canada 
and  eastern  and  southern  Europe.  Beginning  in  1875,  Congress 
passed  a  series  of  laws  shut  ting  out  various  classes  of  undesirables 
from  immigration. 

Several  defects  in  the  national  government  were  corrected 
during  this  time.  President  Cleveland  and  his  successors 
followed  out  the  civil  service  reforms  of  President  Arthur ;  and 
definite  acts  were  passed  regulating  the  presidential  succession, 
count  of  the  electoral  vote,  and  tenure  of  office.  Some  improve- 
ments were  also  made  in  state  and  city  governments. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  362,  510.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  378,  433,  482,  490,  529.  —  Fish,  Am.  Nationality,  438.  —  Semple, 
Geogr.  Conditions,  chs.  xv-xvii. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  731-744,  774-777.  —  Beard,  Contemp. 
Am.  Hist.,  ch.  iii.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  xxiii,  xxv,  xxviii,  xxix, 
xxxi.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  347-374.  —  Dewey,  Nat.  Problems, 
chs.  i,  iii,  vi,  xii,  xviii.  —  Hall,  Immigration.  —  I.uUuu-,  Am.  as  a 
World  Power,  ch.  xvii.  —  Munro,  Govt.  of  Am.  Cities,  15-27.  —  Paxson, 
New  Nation,  135,  157-168,  172,  177-187,  244-251.  —  Wilson,  Am. 
People,  V.  184-187,  264-269.  —  Woodburn,  Polit.  Parties,  chs.  xvi, 
xvii.  —  Wright,  Indust.  Evolution,  ch.  xxvi. 

Sources.  Antin,  Promised  Land  (immigration).  —  Beard,  Readings, 
§§  52»  53»  143-148.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  608-622, 


558  Regulation  of  Business- 

768-776,  781-790,  817,  840.  —  Hart,  Contemporaries,  IV..  §§  165,  197, 
200-202.  —  MacDonald,  Select  Statutes,  nos.  114,  120,  124,  127. 

Illustrative.     Churchill,  Mr.   Crewe's  Career.  —  Harris,    The  Bomb. 

—  Hay,   The  Breadwinners.  —  Luther,  The  Henchman.  —  Merwin  and 
Webster,  Calumet  "  K";   Short-Line  War.  —  Norris,  The  Octopus;    The 
Pit.  —  Payne,  Money  Captain;  Mr.  Salt.  —  Riis,   How  the  Other  Half 
Lives.  —  Smith,    Tom  Grogan.  —  Thanet,    Heart   of    Toil.  —  Webster, 
Banker  and  the  Bear.  —  White,  A  Certain  Rich  Man. 

Pictures.  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.  —  Harper's 
Weekly.  —  McClure's.  —  Scientific  American. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Immigrants  in  some  particular  city.  [§  346]  —  (2)  Incidents  of 
the  "  Tweed  Ring."  [§  347]  —  (3)  Service  of  one  of  the  following  rail- 
road magnates  :  William  H.  Vanderbilt ;  Jay  Gould ;  Edgar  Thom- 
son ;  C.  P.  Himtington;  James  J.  Hill.  [§  349]  —  (4)  Account  of  the 
Eads  jetty  system.  [§  349]  —  (5)  Ship  canals  in  the  Great  Lakes  region. 
[§  349]  —  (6)  American  Federation  of  Labor.  [§  352]  — •  (7)  One  of  the 
following  strikes :  Railroad  of  1886;  Homestead  of  1892;  Pullman  of  1894. 
[§  353]  —  (8)-  Roosevelt's  public  service  previous  to  1901.  [§  355]  — 
(9)  Reed  as  czar  of  the  House.  [§  355] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(10)  Debates  on  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act,  or  the  Original  Package 
Law,  or  the  Sherman  "Antitrust  Law.  [§§  350,  351] — (n)  Notable  boy- 
cotts by  union  labor.  [§353] — (12)  Laws  limiting  immigration.  [§  354] 

—  (13)   Refusal  of  admission  to  immigrants.  [§  354]  —  (14)  Creation 
of  Greater  New  York.  [§  355] 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

THE  SPANISH  WAR  AND  ITS  RESULTS   (1895-1903) 
357.  TROUBLES  IN  CUBA  (1895-1898) 

A  NEW  era  of  national  history  began  when  our  territory  was 
extended  by  war  with  Spain  in  1898.  After  the  end  of  the 
Cuban  insurrection  in  1878  (§  338)  Cuba  quickly  recovered 
prosperity,  till  the  island  had  an  export  trade  of  $100,000,000 
a  year,  most  of  it  to  the  United  States.  Yet  many  of  the  native- 
born  Cubans  were  discontented,  for  in  government  and  society 
they  were  considered  inferiors  by  the  "peninsulars,"  or  native 
Spaniards ;  taxes  were  high ;  and  the  trade  of  the  island  was, 
so  far  as  possible,  kept  in  the  hands  of  Spanish  merchants. 

An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Cuba  in  1895,  aided  by  a 
"Junta"  —  a  council  of  wealthy  Cubans  in  the  United  States 
—  who  within  three  years  sent  from  the  United  States  several 
filibustering  expeditions,  with  arms  and  men  for  the  insurgents. 
The  war  was  savage  on  both  sides ;  the  sugar  plantations  were 
devastated,  and  neither  party  could  beat  the  other.  The 
Spaniards  held  the  western  end  of  the  island,  and  ordered  the 
people  outside  the  towns  to  come  within  the  Spanish  lines  into 
reconcentrado  camps,  where  many  of  them  miserably  perished. 
Property  was  destroyed,  often  that  of  American  citizens;  and 
some  American  residents  and  newspaper  correspondents  were 
arrested  on  suspicion  that  they  were  helping  the  insurgents. 

A  natural  sympathy  with  a  people  struggling  for  independence 
led  a  Senate  committee  to  investigate  conditions  in  Cuba 
(1896).  Part  of  the  American  press  stirred  up  the  trouble 
559 


560  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

as  much  as  possible  and  helped  to  drive  from  his  post  the  Spanish 
minister  De  Lome,  who  was  supposed  to  have  spoken  slight- 
ingly of  the  President  and  the  government  in  a  private  letter. 

Demonstrations  against  the  Americans  in  Havana  led  our 
government  to  send  the  battleship  Maine  on  a  friendly  visit 
to  that  city.  The  Maine  was  blown  up  by  an  explosion  (Febru- 
ary 15,  1898)  which  killed  260  of  the  men;  and  an  American 
naval  board  of  inquiry  later  reported  that  the  ship  was  destroyed 
by  a  mine.  It  was  thought  that  Spaniards  were  responsible, 
though  our  consul-general  at  Havana,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  said :  "I  do 
not  think  it  was  put  there  by  the  Spanish  government.  I  think 
probably  it  was  an  act  of  four  or  five  subordinate  officers." 

War  was  so  likely  that  Congress  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  President  $50,000,000  for  national  defense  (March  9). 
President  McKinley  and  Thomas  B.  Reed,  Speaker  of  the  House, 
were  both  anxious  to  prevent  war ;  but  there  was  a  strong  public 
feeling  that  Spain  could  not  keep  order  in  Cuba,  could  not  sub- 
due the  insurgents,  and  could  not  protect  American  property 
or  even  the  shipping  in  Cuban  harbors.  The  time  seemed  to 
have  come  to  end  the  Spanish  government  in  the  western  world. 
Senator  Proctor  of  Vermont  added  to  the  flame  by  a  speech 
(March  17,  1898)  describing  the  horrors  he  had  seen  in  Cuba. 

358.   OUTBREAK  OF  WAR  (1898) 

After  some  months  of  negotiation,  in  which  promises  of  re- 
form in  Cuba  were  proposed  by  Spain,  President  McKinley 
sent  a  message  to  Congress  (April  n,  1898)  in  which  he  de- 
scribed the  loss  of  property  and  life,  and  said :  "In  the  name  of 
humanity,  in  the  name  of  civilization,  in  behalf  of  endangered- 
American  interests,  which  give  us  the  right  and  the  duty  to 
speak  and  act,  the  war  in  Cuba  must  stop."  Accordingly  a 
joint  resolution  was  passed  (April  19)  directing  the  President 
to  use  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to 
compel  Spain  to  leave  Cuba.  To  this  measure  was  added  the 
Teller  Resolution  against  conquest,  in  the  words : 


Outbreak  of  War  561 

"That  the  United  States  hereby  disclaims  any  disposition 
or  intention  to  exercise  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  control 
over  said  island  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and  asserts 
its  determination,  when  that  is  accomplished,  to  leave  the  gov- 
ernment and  control  of  the  island  to  its  people." 

On  the  outbreak  of  war,  Commodore  George  Dewey,  in  com- 
mand of  the  American  vessels  in  the  Pacific,  was  ordered  to  find 
and  fight  the  Spanish  fleet  that 
was  stationed  in  the  Philippine 
Islands.  He  had  a  small  fleet  of 
six  modern  steel  vessels  with 
which  to  confront  the  weak 
Spanish  fleet ;  and  he  attacked 
under  the  guns  of  the  Spanish 
forts  of  Cavite,  in  Manila  Bay 
(May  i,  1898).  After  four  hours' 
spirited  fight  he  set  the  Spanish 
fleet  on  fire,  and  sent  home  a 
brief  dispatch  to  the  effect  that 
he  had  destroyed  eleven  vessels 
and  the  fort,  with  trifling  loss  to 
his  fleet. 

Dewey  anchored  off  the  city  of 
Manila,  which  for  some  time 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the 

Spaniards.  He  shortly  brought  to  the  island,  Aguinaldo,  a 
Philippine  native  of  influence,  who  had  been  engaged  in  an 
insurrection  against  the  Spanish  power,  and  who  now  renewed 
the  insurrection  and  raised  a  Philippine  army.  Manila  was 
attacked  by  sea  and  land,  and  eventually  taken  (August  13, 
1898)  by  a  fleet  under  Dewey,  and  an  American  army  under 
General  Merritt.  Aguinaldo  expected  that  he  would  have  the 
opportunity  to  found  a  Philippine  state,  though  no  such  promise 
was  ever  made  to  him  ;  and  his  troops  remained  in  the  trenches 
before  Manila,  confronting  the  Americans. 


THE  PHILIPPINES. 


562 


The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 


359.  CAMPAIGNS  IN  CUBA  AND  PORTO  Rico  (1898) 

Cuba  was  very  soon  blockaded  by  a  fleet  under  the  command 
of  Admiral  Sampson,  but  the  Spaniards  could  be  forced  to  leave 
the  island  only  by  an  army.  As  the  United  States  then  had 
only  about  26,000  regular  troops,  Congress  authorized  an 

increase  to  63,000,  be- 
sides the  volunteers 
called  for  by  the  Presi- 
dent. In  a  few  weeks 
about  200,000  men 
were  enlisted  in  the 
volunteers,  consisting 
in  part  of  state  militia 
commands.  The  navy 

ROUTES  OF  FLEETS  TO  SANTIAGO  DE  CUBA.     was     wdl     organized  J 

but  the  new  army  was 

not  trained  for  campaigning,  and  the  War  Department  was 
not  prepared  to  handle,  clothe,  or  feed  so  many  men.  Secre- 
tary of  War  Alger  said,  "It  is  doubtful  if  any  nation  rated  as 
a  first-class  power  ever  entered  upon  a  war  of  offense  in  a  condi- 
tion of  less  military  preparation."  Meanwhile  a  second  small 
Spanish  fleet  left  Spain  for  Cuba.  Admiral  Schley  with  a 
flying  squadron  was  sent  out  to  look  for  the  Spaniards,  and 
with  some  difficulty  ascertained  that  they  had  slipped  into 
the  harbor  of  Santiago  de  Cuba.  Admiral  Sampson  then  took 
command  and  blockaded  the  port. 

A  small  force  of  17,000  men  was  brought  together  in 
Tampa  Bay  under  General  Shafter,  and  with  great  confusion 
and  difficulty  landed  on  the  south  coast  of  Cuba.  It  then 
marched  up  to  capture  Santiago  from  the  Spaniards.  The 
army  had  no  proper  transportation  or  medical  supplies,  and 
the  food  was  poor  and  sometimes  scanty.  No  army  of  Cuban 
patriots  could  be  found.  The  principal  fight  was  at  San 
Juan  Hill  (July  i,  1898)  in  which  good  service  was  done  by 


End  of  the  War 


563 


the  "Rough  Riders,"  part  of  Colonel  Roosevelt's  dismounted 
cavalry  regiment. 

The  Spanish  fleet  under  Admiral  Cervera  at  last  made  a 
dash  out  of  Santiago  (July  3,  1898).  Ad- 
miral Sampson's  flagship,  the  New  York, 
was  out  of  range  to  the  eastward,  and 
Admiral  Schley  was  next  in  command.  In 
execution  of  Sampson's  standing  orders  the 
American  ships  dashed  at  the  enemy, 
and  in  a  running  fight  forced  ashore  and 
destroyed  all  four  of  the  cruisers  and  two 
torpedo  boats,  with  little  damage  to  any 
of  the  American  ships.  The  credit  for  this 
victory  is  due  to  the  vim  and  dash  of  all 
the  officers  and  men  engaged,  and  also  to 
the  foresight  of  Admiral  Sampson,  who 
made  preparations  to  receive  just  such  an 
attack.  The  troops  now  pushed  nearer  to 
Santiago,  and  that  city  with  its  garrison 
surrendered  (July  17,  1898).  The  island  of  Porto  Rico  was 
taken  by  17,000  men  under  command  of  General  Miles,  who 
landed  (July  25)  on  the  southwest  coast,  moved  eastward  and 
took  the  city  of  Ponce,  and  then  crossed  the  island  to  San 
Juan.  There  was  little  resistance,  and  the  people  welcomed 
the  invaders. 

360.   END  OF  THE  WAR  (1898) 

The  Spaniards  still  had  a  force  of  about  50,000  men  at  Ha- 
vana, and  the  little  American  army  at  Santiago  was  already 
seized  with  fever.  It  was  not  properly  supplied  with  hospital 
tents  and  medicines,  and  ten  of  the  general  officers  united  in  a 
so-called  "round  robin"  addressed  to  General  Shafter,  to  say, 
"This  army  must  be  moved  at  once  or  it  will  perish."  Accord- 
ingly it  was  transported  from  Cuba  to  Long  Island  (August  7). 
Spain  was  in  no  condition  for  further  fighting,  and  (August  12)  a 
"protocol,"  or  agreement,  was  signed,  under  which  Spain  was  to 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  35 


A  ROUGH  RIDER, 
1898. 


564  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

evacuate  Cuba  and  to  cede  Porto  Rico  to  the  United  States ;  the 
future  of  the  Philippines  was  to  be  settled  by  a  later  treaty  of  peace. 
The  protocol  came  too  late  to  stop  hostilities  at  Manila,  for  the 
city  surrendered  (§  358)  before  the  news  of  peace  arrived. 

For  the  definite  treaty  of  peace,  President  McKinley  appointed 
a  special  commission  which  met  the  Spanish  representatives 
in  Paris.  The  negotiators  found  a  troublesome  question  in  the 
Philippines,  which  were  very,  distant  from  the  United  States, 
and  had  a  mixed  population  ranging  from  head-hunting  sav- 
ages to  highly  civilized  Spanish-speaking  gentlemen.  Should 
the  United  States  return  the  islands  to  Spain?  or  turn  them 
over  to  Aguinaldo's  government  ?  or  annex  them  outright  ? 

The  arguments  for  annexation  were:  (i)  The  islands  were  a 
rich  and  fertile  region,  which  the  United  States  would  be  glad 
to  possess.  (2)  The  war  with  Spain  had  destroyed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Philippines  and  made  it  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  give  the  people  a  just  and  orderly  government. 
(3)  The  Philippines  were  so  near  the  coast  of  Asia  that  the  pos- 
session of  them  would  give  the  United  States  great  influence 
with  China  and  eastern  Asia. 

For  some  time  the  President  hesitated.  Annexation  of  dis- 
tant islands  seemed  a  departure  from  all  the  previous  policy 
of  the  government;  but  both  McKinley  and  his  new  Secre- 
tary of  State,  John  Hay,  agreed  that  it  was  the  course  most 
likely  to  bring  peace  to  the  islands,  and  to  give  the  United 
States  a  position  in  the  Pacific.  The  treaty  of  peace,  signed 
at  Paris,  December  10,  1898, provided  that  "Spain  relinquishes 
all  claim  of  sovereignty  over  and  title  to  Cuba,"  and  ceded 
outright  Porto  Rico,  Guam  in  the  Ladrones,  and  the  Philippine 
Islands.  The  United  States  was  to  pay  $20,000,000  to  Spain. 

For  some  time  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  Senate  would 
ratify  the  treaty.  Bryan,  as  a  Democratic  leader,  came  to 
Washington  and  used  his  influence  with  Democratic  senators 
in  favor  of  the  treaty.  It  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  (February 
6,  1899)  and  was  proclaimed  by  the  President,  April  14,  1899. 


William  McKinley,  President 


565 


361.  WILLIAM  MCKINLEY,  PRESIDENT  (1897-1901) 

During  and  after  the  war,  President  McKinley  came  more 
and  more  to  the  front  as  a  man  of  power.  He  was  born  in  Niles, 
Ohio,  in  1843,  served 
with  gallantry  in.  the 
Civil  War,  and  rose 
from  a  private  to  a 
major.  In  1877  he 
was  sent  to  Congress, 
where  he  grew  in  repu- 
tation, and  in  1889 
was  made  chairman  of 
the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee ;  that  is, 
leader  of  his  party  on 
the  floor  of  the  House. 
To  him  was  committed 
the  task  of  drafting 
the  new  tariff  in  1890 
(§  341).  By  a  "gerry- 
mander" he  lost  his 
seat  in  Congress,  but 
in  1891  he  was  elected 
governor  of  Ohio,  and 
he  was  the  logical  can- 
didate of  his  party  for 
the  presidency  in  1896.  His  intimate  friend,  Marcus  A.  Hanna, 
came  into  the  Senate  from  Ohio,  and  was  the  President's  right- 
hand  man.  McKinley  was  one  of  the  most  gracious  and  genial 
men  who  ever  sat  in  the  White  House. 

He  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  the  war  with  Spain,  which 
he  felt  was  demanded  by  public  opinion  ;  but  he  made  the 
decision  for  taking  the  Philippines.  He  also  urged  upon  Con- 
gress a  new  tariff  and  settlement  of  the  currency  question. 


WILLIAM  MCKINLEY.. 


566  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

Immediately  after  his  inauguration  (1897)  McKinley 
called  a  special  session  of  Congress,  in  which  trie  Republicans 
controlled  both  houses.  Dingley  of  Maine,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  engineered  the  making  of 
a  new  tariff  (July  24,  1897),  the  third  one  passed  since 
1889.  The  scale  of  duties  of  the  McKinley  Tariff  of  1890  was 
restored  and  somewhat  increased.  The  cry  was  raised  that 
certain  manufacturers  who  wanted  their  products  protected  had 


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OMMERCIAL  VALUE  OF  SILVER 

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VALUE  OF  THE  GOLD  AND  SILVER  MINED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND 
THE  CHANGE  IN  THE  MARKET  PRICE  OF  SILVER. 

been  allowed  to  write  paragraphs  of  the  measure,  because  they 
had  made  large  contributions  to  the  party  campaign  fund. 

The  silver  controversy  was  much  affected  by  a  great  increase 
in  the  output  of  gold,  so  that  all  over  the  world  there  was  gold 
enough  to  serve  as  a  standard  for  the  world's  business,  and 
Congress  finally  passed  an  act  definitely  establishing  the  single 
gold  standard  (March  14, 1900).  Under  it  all  outstanding  paper 
money  was  redeemable  in  gold  coin. 

McKinley  was  reflected  in  1900  over  Bryan,  again  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  (§  344),  by  an  electoral  vote  of  292  to  155,  and 


New  Dependencies  567 

began  his  second  term  with  a  prestige  and  influence  which  no 
President  had  enjoyed  for  many  years.  He  urged  a  liberal 
tariff  policy  which  would  aid  trade  in  our  manufactured  goods 
abroad,  but  before  Congress  met  he  was  shot  (September  6, 
1901)  by  an  obscure  fanatic.  He  died  lamented  by  all  his 
countrymen,  and  was  succeeded  by  Vice  President  Roosevelt. 

362.    NEW  DEPENDENCIES  (1899-1902) 

After  the  capture  of  Manila,  Aguinaldo  still  hoped  for  inde- 
pendence, and  kept  up  his  forces  outside  the  city  of  Manila 
(§  358).  He  and  his  officers  grew  discontented,  and  their 
soldiers  brought  on  a  fight  (February  4,  1899).  For  two  years 
Aguinaldo  kept  together  an  organized  force,  until  he  was  made 
a  prisoner;  and  the  insurrection  continued  until  1902. 

The  treaty  of  1899  declared  that  "the  civil  rights  and  polit- 
ical status  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  territories  hereby 
ceded  to  the  United  States  shall  be  determined  by  the  Con- 
gress." Accordingly  a  modified  form  of  territorial  government 
was  created  for  Porto 
Rico  (April,  1900),  in 
which  the  members 
of  the  upper  house  of 
the  legislature  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Presi- 
dent ;  but  the  act  did 
not  make  the  island 
part  of  the  United 
States.  In  1917  Porto 
Rico  received  a  larger 
degree  of  self-govern- 
ment and  Porto  Ricans 
were  made  citizens  of 
the  United  States.  For 
the  temporary  govern- 
ment of  the  Philippines  HUSKING  COCONUTS  IN  PORTO  Rico. 


568  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

the  President,  on  his  own  responsibility,  appointed  two  succes- 
sive commissions  of  civilians,  and  Congress  later  authorized  him 
to  establish  a  government  at  his  discretion  (March  2,  1901). 
He  continued  the  former  commission  under  Judge  Taf  t  of  Ohio ; 
and  that  commission  organized  a  government  for  the  islands 
and  set  up  local  governments  wherever  it  was  safe. 

Trouble  at  once  arose  over  the  question  whether  the  United 
States  tariff  aoplbd  to  these  new  dependencies.     The  question, 


VILLAGE  IN  THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS. 

so  far  as  it  concerned  Porto  Rico,  was  settled  by  an  act  of 
Congress  (April  12,  1900),  providing  a  special  tariff  for  that 
island,  but  allowing  it  speedily  to  come  into  the  regular  tariff 
system  of  the  United  States ;  that  is,  to  be  free  from  all  duties 
on  trade  with  the  states.  In  1901  the  Supreme  Court  supported 
this  legislation  by  decisions  in  the  "Insular  Cases."  The  ma- 
jority of  the  court  (5  to  4)  agreed:  (i)  that  Congress  had  the 
right  to  make  a  separate  tariff  for  the  dependencies;  (2)  that 
Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines  were  not  foreign  countries; 
(3)  that  they  were  also  not  complete  parts  of  the  United  States, 
unless  Congress  should  choose  to  incorporate  them. 


Relations  with  Cuba  569 

Acting  on  those  principles,  Congress  made  a  special  tariff  of 
import  duties  into  the  Philippines  (March  8,  1902),  and  fixed 
the  duties  on  imports  from  the  Philippines  into  the  United 
States  at  three  fourths  the  rates  on  similar  imports  from  other 
countries.  By  another  act  (July  i,  1902)  a  bill  of  rights  was 
adopted  which  contained  substantially  the  guarantees  of  per- 
sonal liberty  set  forth  in  the  federal  Constitution  (§  137), 
except  the  clauses  for  jury  trials  and  for  keeping  and  bearing 
arms.  A  permanent  form  of  government  was  created  by 
Congress  —  substantially  the  same  as  that  framed  by  the 
commission.  Judge  Taft  was  appointed  civil  governor,  and 
provision  was  made  for  an  Assembly  of  elected  represent- 
atives. 

363.  RELATIONS  WITH  CUBA  (1898-1903) 

As  Cuba  was  completely  disorganized  by  the  war,  United 
States  troops  were  left  in  the  island.  General  Leonard  Wood 
was  appointed  military  governor,  and  within  a  few  months 
the  island  was  restored  to  order;  roads  and  telegraphs  were 
built,  hundreds  of  schools  were  opened,  and  prosperity  slowly 
returned.  What  were  to  be  the  future  relations  of  the  United 
States  to  Cuba?  Annexation  was  out  of  the  question,  in  view 
of  the  Teller  Resolution  of  1898  (§  358).  The  President  and 
Cabinet  drew  up  a  set  of  regulations  for  Cuba  which  were  passed 
by  Congress  under  the  name  of  the  "Platt  Amendment" 
(March  2,  1901).  It  contained  as  bases  for  the  future  govern- 
ment of  Cuba  the  following  principles :  (i)  Cuba  must  make  no 
foreign  agreements  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States. 
(2)  Cuba  must  not  incur  a  debt  that  she  could  not  pay.  (3) 
Sites  were  to  be  ceded  on  the  Cuban  coast  for  United  States 
naval  stations.  (4)  Cuban  ports  must  not  be  allowed  to  be 
breeding  places  of  disease.  (5)  The  United  States  was  to  have 
the  right  to  occupy  Cuba,  if  necessary  to  keep  order. 

A  Cuban  constitutional  convention  agreed  to  these  conditions 
(June  12),  and  formed  a  republic  of  which  General  Palma 


570  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

was  elected  first  president.  The  control  of  the  island  was 
formally  given  up  to  the  new  government  (May  20,  1902), 
and  the  United  States  troops  were  withdrawn. 

Next  came  the  question  of  the  commercial  relations  of  the 
two  countries.  The  Cubans  had  lost  their  former  market  in 
Spain,  and  expected  that  the  United  States  would  make  a  reduc- 
tion on  the  regular  tariff  duties  on  imports  from  Cuba.  As 
the  House  paid  no  attention  to  urgent  messages  'from  both 
President  McKinley  and  his  successor,  President  Roosevelt, 
a  treaty  was  negotiated  (1903)  for  a  20  per  cent  reduction  on 
regular  import  duties,  and  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  with  a 
proviso  that  it  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, a  very  unusual  method  of  securing  a  treaty. 

364.  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  PACIFIC  (1897-1913) 

The  United  States  reached  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  Pacific  coast  states.  To  the  northward  lay  Alaska,  annexed 
from  Russia  in  1867  and  provided  with  a  government  in  1884 
as  "a  civil  and  judicial  district."  It  was  an  immense  region,  ex- 
tending from  the  North  Pacific  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  west- 
ward to  Bering  Sea,  together  with  the  Aleutian  Islands  which 
reach  almost  to  the  coast  of  Asia.  For  many  years  the  only 
source  of  wealth  in  Alaska  was  the.  fur  seals,  caught  on  and 
near  the  Pribilof  Islands  in  Bering  Sea.  Then  in  1897  gold 
was  discovered  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  River,  mostly 
in  Canadian  territory.  The  result  was  a  stampede  of  pros- 
pectors and  gold  diggers.  Gold  was  also  found  on  the  sea 
beaches  at  Nome,  almost  on  the  Arctic  Circle.  The  popu- 
lation of  Alaska  increased  slowly,  and  in  1912  Congress  at  last 
created  a  regular  territorial  government  for  it. 

The  interest  of  the  United  States  in  the  Pacific  led  to  several 
annexations  of  island  territory.  The  Hawaiian  Islands  had 
for  many  years  enjoyed  a  favorable  commercial  treaty  with 
us;  and  in  1893,  with  the  aid  of  marines  landed  from  a  United 
States  ship,  a  party  which  included  most  of  the  people  of  Ameri- 


The  United  States  in  Asia  571 

can  descent  in  the  islands,  revolted  from  the  native  monarchy 
and  set  up  a  republic.  President  Cleveland  would  not  agree 
to  annexation ;  but  during  the  Spanish  War  a  joint  resolution 
of  Congress  (July  7,  1898)  brought  the  Hawaiian  Islands  into 
the  United  States,  and  they  were  organized  as  a  territory  (1900). 
This  important  group  in  the  mid-Pacific  is  especially  valuable 
as  a  naval  station. 

The  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  Germany  all  had  in- 
terests in  the  Samoan  Islands ;  hence  a  tripartite  treaty  had  been 
agreed  on  (June  14,  1889),  by  which  the  three  powers  admin- 
istered the  islands  together.  The  natives  tried  to  fight  out 
their  own  quarrels,  and  this  led  to  such  confusion  that  in  1899 
the  three  powers  made  a  division  treaty,  by  which  the  United 
States  took  the  island  of  Tutuila  and  five  other  small  islands, 
with  the  harbor  of  Pago  Pago,  one  of  the  best  in  the  Pacific. 
Various  small  islands,  Baker,  Midway,  Wake,  Howland,  and 
others,  which  lay  in  the  mid-Pacific  and  had  never  been  claimed 
by  any  other  power,  were  annexed  by  the  United  States,  to  be 
used  as  landing  or  telegraph  stations. 

365.  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  ASIA 

The  results  of  the  war  of  1898  gave  the  United  States  a  new 
place  in  the  world's  councils.  In  a  conference  held  at  the 
Hague,  in  Holland,  to  discuss  means  of  preventing  war  (1899), 
the  influence  of  the  United  States  was  high  among  the  twenty- 
seven  nations  represented,  and  helped  to  bring  about  a  general 
treaty  providing  courts  of  arbitration. 

That  influence  was  also  strong  in  China,  where  France,  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  Japan,  and  Russia  were  all  trying  to  take 
and  keep  Chinese  territory.  The  interest  of  the  United  States 
in  China  was  heightened  by  the  great  opportunity  for  commerce 
with  that  populous  nation,  which  offered  a  market  for  American 
flour,  piece  goods,  machinery,  railway  material,  and  other 
exports.  For  the  growing  commerce  with  Japan  and  China, 
the  main  ports  were  Seattle,  Tacoma,  Portland,  and  San  Fran- 


UMTED  STATES 

AND  ITS 

POSSESSIONS 

SHOWING' 

STEAMSHIP   AND   CABLE 
COMMUNICATIONS 


A  PHILIPPINE  BOAT  WITH  OUT-RIGGERS. 


574  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

cisco.  American,  Japanese,  and  British  steamer  lines  ran  from 
these  ports  and  also  from  Vancouver  in  British  Columbia, 

carrying  out  timber, 
flour,  cotton  cloth, 
and  various  manu- 
factures, and  bringing 
back  tea,  silk,  and 
other  Oriental  prod- 
ucts. 

The  ownership  of 
the  Philippines  caused 
the  United  States  to 
feel  some  responsi- 
bility for  happenings 

in  eastern  Asia.  Therefore,  a  small  body  of  American  troops 
in  1 900  joined  similar  detachments  of  British,  French,  Rus- 
sian, Italian,  and  Japanese  troops  in  a  march  from  the  coast 
to  Peking ;  there  they  defeated  the  Chinese  Boxers  and  res- 
cued the  diplomats  who  had  for  weeks  been  besieged  in  the 
city.  Secretary  Hay  proposed  the  policy  of  "the  open  door," 
by  which  he  meant  the  right  of  all  foreign  nations  to  trade 
on  equal  terms  in  all  parts  of  China,  and  the  European  powers 
accepted  this  principle.  Secretary  Hay  also  did  his  best  to 
hold  back  the  European  powers  from  greedy  demands,  for  a  large 
money  indemnity  from  the  Chinese,  after  the  Boxer  Rebellion. 

366.  REVIEW 

Unsatisfactory  government  of  Cuba  by  Spain  led  to  an  in- 
surrection there  in  1895.  American  property  and  citizens 
suffered,  and  the  battleship  Maine, was  blown  up  (February, 
1898)  in  the  harbor  of  Havana.  To  end  the  oppression 
of  the  Cubans,  Congress  authorized  intervention  (April,  1898), 
at  the  same  time  promising  not  to  annex  Cuba. 

The  significant  military  events  of  the  war  which  followed 
were:  (i)  Admiral  Dewey's  defeat  of  the  Spanish  fleet  in  Manila 


References  575 

Bay  (May  i) ;  (2)  later  capture  of  Manila ;  (3)  blockade  of 
Cuba;  (4)  attack  on  Santiago  by  Shafter's  army  (San  Juan 
Hill) ;  (5)  destruction  of  the  Spanish  fleet  as  it  tried  to  escape ; 
(6)  capture  of  Santiago  (July) ;  (7)  capture  of  Porto  Rico. 

The  Spaniards  did  not  care  to  prolong  the  fighting  and  signed 
a  preliminary  treaty  (August  12).  Negotiations  at  Paris 
resulted  in  a  treaty  of  peace  (December  10)  by  which  Spain 
ceded  Porto  Rico,  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  the  island  of 
Guam,  and  "relinquished  sovereignty"  over  Cuba. 

For  this  treaty,  President  McKinley  was  responsible,  and  he 
became  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  the  country.  Not 
long  before  the  war  the  Dingley  tariff  of  1897  was  passed. 
Congress  established  the  gold  standard  for  our  paper  money 
(1900).  McKinley  was  reflected  President,  but  was  assassinated. 

Aguinaldo,  a  Filipino  leader,  headed  a  fight  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Philippine  Islands  (1899).  Meanwhile  Porto 
Rico  was  organized ;  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  which  had  been 
annexed  in  1898,  were  also  organized.  In  the  "Insular  Cases" 
the-  Supreme  Court  held  that  annexations  made  by  conquest 
were  not  complete  parts  of  the  United  States,  till  "incorpo- 
rated "  by  Congress. 

An  American  army  was  left  in  Cuba,  and  it  pacified  and 
reorganized  the  island.  In  1902,  Cuba  set  up  an  independent 
government  under  an  agreement  called  the  "Platt  Amend- 
ment." The  United  States  annexed  several  small  islands  in 
the  Pacific  and  part  of  the  Samoan  group.  The  Pacific  posses- 
sions led  to  a  new  interest  in  eastern  Asia ;  and  in  1 900  the 
United  States  joined  a  military  expedition  into  China  and 
demanded  the  "open  door"  for  Chinese  trade. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  493,  561,  562,  572-573.  — 
Chadwick,  U.  S.  and  Spain,  II,  III.  —  Latane",  Am.  as  a  World  Power, 
4,  46,  102,  132.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,  77,  259.  —  Sample,  Geogr. 
Conditions,  397~435- 

Secondary.     Bassett,    U.S.,   784-814,   822-824.  —  Beard,   Contemp. 


576  The  Spanish  War  and  its  Results 

Am.  Hist.,  ch.  viii.  —  Brooks,  War  with  Spain.  —  Carpenter,  Am. 
Advance,  288-331.  —  Chad  wick,  U.  S.  and  Spain,  I.  chs.  xx-xxix, 
II,  III.  —  Coolidge,  U.  S.  as  a  World  Power,  chs.  vi-viii,  xvii-xix.  — 
Fish,  Am.  Dipl.,  chs.  xxix,  xxxii.  —  Griffis,  Am.  in  the  East.  —  Hart, 
Obvious  Orient,  chs.  xxiv-xxvi.  —  Haworth,  Reconstruction  and  Union, 
chs.  vii,  viii.  —  Latan6,  Am.  as  a  World  Power,  chs.  i-x. —  McCall, 
T.  B.  Reed,  ch.  xx.  —  Maclay,  U.  S.  Navy,  III.  39-440. — Olcott, 
Wm.  McKinley,  I.  chs.  xvi-xxiii,  II.  —  Thayer,  John  Hay,  II.  chs. 
xxiii-xxvii. — Titherington,  Span.- Am.  War. 

Sources.  Appletons'  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1898  to  1902.  —  Beard, 
Readings,  §§  154-158.  —  Caldwell,  Terr.  Development,  213-255.  —  Hart, 
Contemporaries,  IV.  §§180-196;  Source  Book,  §§  141-145.  —  Hill, 
Liberty  Docs.,  ch.  xxiv.  —  International  Year  Book,  1898  to  1902. 

Illustrative.  Crane,  Wounds  in  the  Rain.  —  Dean,  Promotion 
(Philippines).  —  Dunne,  Mr.  Dooley  in  Peace  and  in  War;  Mr.  Dooley  in 
the  Hearts  of  His  Countrymen.  —  Hyatt,  Little  Brown  Brother.  — 
Lewis,  Gunner  aboard  the  Yankee.  —  Wood,  Spirit  of  the  Service. 

Pictures.  Century.  —  Collier's  Weekly.  —Harper's  Pictorial  Hist, 
of  the  War  with  Spain.  —  Leslie's  Official  Hist,  of  the  Span.- Am.  War. 
—  McClure's.  —  Mentor,  serial  no.  89.  —  Scribner's  Magazine.  —  Worces- 
ter, The  Philippines. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Battle  of  Manila  Bay  [§  358],  or  of  Santiago.  [§  359]  —  (2)  Pub- 
lic career  of  one  of  the  following :  Proctor;  John  Hay;  Hanna;  Dingley. 
[§§  357,  360,  361]  — (3)  Military  service  of  one:  Dewey;  Miles;  Wood; 
Roosevelt.  [§§  358,  359]  —  (4)  Debates  on  the  tariff  of  1897.  [§  361]  — 
(5)  Election  of  1900.  [§  361]  —  (6)  Philippine  War.  [§  362]  —  (7)  Mili- 
tary occupation  of  Cuba.  [§  363]  —  (8)  Alaska  from  1867  to  1897. 
[§  364]  —  (9)  Discovery  of  gold  in  Alaska.  [§  364]  —  (10)  Attempt  to 
annex  Hawaii,  1893,  or  annexation  of  Hawaii,  1898.  [§  364]  —  (n)  An- 
nexation of  small  Pacific  islands,  1899.  [§  364] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(12)  Could  the  war  with  Spain  have  been  prevented?  [§  358]  — 
(13)  Public  career  of  Aguinaldo.  [§  358]  —  (14)  Why  was  the  United 
States  unprepared  for  the  Spanish  War?  [§  359]  —  (15)  Why  did  the 
United  States  annex  the  Philippines?  [§  360]  —  (16)  Why  was  the 
Platt  Amendment  adopted?  [§  363]  — (17)  First  Peace  Congress  at 
the  Hague.  [§  365]  —  (18)  Americans  in  the  Boxer  Rebellion.  [§  365] 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

NEW  SOUTH  AND  FAR  WEST   (1885-1916) 
367.  THE  SECTIONS  AFTER  1885 

THE  history  of  the  United  States  for  nearly  a  hundred  years 
after  the  Revolution  abounded  in  rivalries  between  the  different 
sections.  New  England  quarreled  with  the  middle  states  and 
the  South.  New  England  and  the  middle  states  felt  jealous 
of  the  rising  West.  Then  New  England  and  the  middle  states 
and  the  West  of  that  time  united  into  the  North  and  fought 
the  Civil  War  against  the  South.  It  took  a  long  time  to  free 
the  land  from  the  rivalry  between  North  and  South ;  but  by 
1885  those  two  sections  had  come  to  understand  that  they  were 
both  parts  of  the  same  Union,  and  that  they  had  similar  aims 
and  interests,  and  could  go  hand  in  hand.  When  the  country 
continued  prosperous  and  peaceful  under  Grover  Cleveland,  a 
Democratic  President  who  was  supported  by  the  solid  South,  the 
feelings  of  hatred  and  suspicion  died  out  on  both  sides. 

One  reason  for  the  more  cordial  feeling  was  that  northern  and 
southern  people  traveled  more  widely.  Florida  became  a  win- 
ter pleasure  resort  and  drew  northern  visitors  who  stopped  over 
in  the  southern  states  along  their  route.  Some  northerners 
settled  on  southern  plantations  or  took  places  as  teachers,  col- 
lege professors,  business  and  professional  men  in  the  southern 
cities.  On  the  other  side,  well-to-do  southerners  spent  their 
summers  in  the  North,  and  southern  students  entered  northern 
colleges,  both  eastern  and  western.  Some  of  the  ablest  business 
men  in  the  South  settled  in  northern  cities. 
577 


578 


Admission  of  New  States  579 

In  1885,  the  West  was  stretching  far  beyond  the  Missouri 
River.  A  belt  of  new  communities  appeared  in  and  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  which  came  to  be  called  the  far  West. 
Both  North  and  South  helped  to  build  up  this  far  West.  South- 
erners found  their  way  to  all  the  northwestern,  southwestern,  and 
Pacific  states;  and  the  native  stock  from  New  England,  the 
middle  states,  and  the  middle  West  furnished  a  large  element 
of  the  population,  which  was  further  swelled  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  foreigners. 

By  this  time,  five  or  six  railroads  had  been  completed  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  eastern  money  poured  in  to  open  the  mines, 
cut  the  forests,  and  develop  the  cities.  In  1885  a  large  part  of 
the  far  West  was  still  in  the  hands  of  Indian  tribes;  and  the 
last  of  the  great  herds  of  buffaloes  had  just  disappeared.  The 
newcomers  found  the  same  kind  of  opportunities  for  hard  work 
and  wealth  in  Montana  and  Utah  and  California  that  their 
fathers  had  found  earlier  in  Michigan  and  Missouri.  The 
far  West  was  for  a  time  the  frontier  of  the  United  States,  but 
a  frontier  abounding  in  railroads  and  growing  towns. 

The  far  West  felt  little  sense  of  rivalry  with  the  East.  It 
had  its  own  ports  on  the  Pacific,  its  own  industries,  such  as 
cattle  raising,  mining,  and  fruit  and  grain  growing.  The  same 
kind  of  men  and  women  lived  there  as  in  the  older  states ;  but 
there  was  a  livelier  spirit  of  freedom  and  adventure,  especially 
in  California,  which  made  the  far  West  different  from  the  older 
parts  of  the  Union. 

368.  ADMISSION  OF  NEW  STATES  (1889-1912) 

In  1888  there  were  no  organized  states  west  of  the  Rockies 
except  California,  Oregon,  Nevada,  and  part  of  Colorado.  In 
1912,  twenty-four  years  later,  the  whole  continental  area  was 
blocked  out  in  communities  which  took  their  places  as  sisters  of 
the  older  states.  This  process  of  western  state  making  began 
in  1889,  when  Congress  provided  for  the  admission  of  North 
Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Montana,  and  Washington.  The 


5  So  New  South  and  Far  West 

two  Dakotas,  having  duly  adopted  state  constitutions,  were 
formally  admitted  November  2.  They  were  created  out  of  the 
Territory  of  Dakota,  including  a  vast  prairie  region  and  also 
the  mining  district  of  the  Black  Hills.  These  two  states  very 
much  resembled  their  older  neighbors,  Nebraska  and  Minnesota. 
A  few  days  later,  the  two  states  of  Montana  (November  8) 
and  Washington  (November  n)  came  into  the  Union.  Mon- 
tana is  one  of  the  largest  of  all  the  states,  stretching  for  500  miles 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  eastward,  including  most  of  the 
valleys  of  the  upper  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  rivers. 


~    " 

.^JUs 

ALTMAN,  COLORADO,  A  WESTERN  MINING  TOWN. 

Washington  is  the  northwestern  part  of  that  broad  Oregon 
country  which  was  assured  to  the  United  States  in  1846  (§  229). 
It  includes  two  very  different  regions,  separated  from  each 
other  by  the  Cascade-  Range.  The  eastern  part  is  the  middle 
valley  of  the  Columbia,  with  large  areas  of  volcanic  desert,  and 
also  the  splendid  wheat-growing  area  of  the  Palouse,  often  called 
"The  Inland  Empire."  The  western  part  extends  from  the 
Columbia  River  around  the  superb  Puget  Sound  to  the  British 
boundary.  It  contains  some  of  the  finest  harbors  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  which  furnish  a  point  of  departure  for  the  Oriental  trade. 
These  four  states  at  the  time  of  admission  had  together 
only  about  1,000,000  inhabitants,  but  rapidly  increased  and 
are  destined  to  be  populous  members  of  the  Union. 


Admission  of  New  States  581 

Two  more  states  were  added  in  1890,  Idaho  and  Wyoming. 
Idaho  is  a  mountain  state,  lying  mostly  on  the  slope  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains  westward  to  the  Snake  River,  with  enor- 
mous water  powers,  valuable  mines,  and  much  good  agricultural 
land  in  the  valleys.  Wyoming,  the  44th  state,  is  the  only 
state  in  the  Union  except  Colorado  that  boasts  exactly 
rectangular  boundaries.  .The  chief  industry  of  this  region  is 
stock  raising  and  mining,  including  valuable  coal  mines. 


WHEAT   FIELD  IN   THE  PALOUSE  COUNTRY,  WASHINGTON.     (A  combined 
harvester  and  thresher.) 

Utah  territory  was  for  a  time  more  populous  than  any  of  these 
six  neighbors,  but  was  held  back  from  statehood  by  a  long  con- 
troversy with  the  federal  government  about  polygamy.  Plural 
marriages,  as  the  system  was  called  in  Utah,  were  practiced  in 
the  territory  in  spite  of  special  acts  of  Congress  prohibiting  them. 
In  1896  Utah  was  admitted  as  a  state,  with  a  pledge  in  the 
state  constitution  that  polygamy  should  never  be  allowed. 

In  1907  the  two  territories  of  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma 
were  united  into  the  state  of  Oklahoma.  This  is  the  only  one 


582  New  South  and  Far  West 

of  the  new  admissions  which  can  be  counted  as  distinctly  south- 
ern ;  for  in  climate,  productions,  and  people,  it  much  resembles 
the  states  immediately  to  the  eastward.  Few  states  in  the 
Union  are  so  rich  in  natural  resources  as  Oklahoma.  It  has  some 
timber  and  abounds  in  coal,  oil,  and  natural  gas.  The  western 
end  of  the  state  runs  up  into  a  mountain  range ;  the  central  and 
eastern  parts  teem  with  corn,  wheat,  fruit,  and  cotton.  It  is 
a  garden  spot. 

The  only  two  territories  left  in  the  main  part  of  the  United 
States  were  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  Congress  wanted  to 
be  rid  of  the  whole  question  of  organized  territories,  and  both 
were  admitted  as  states  in  1912.  Their  population  was  rather 
small  and  included  many  Mexican  immigrants.  Their  admission 
completed  the  process  of  state  making,  which  began  in  1776 
when  New  Hampshire  framed  the  first  state  constitution  (§  100). 

369.   MATERIAL  PROSPERITY  OF  THE  SOUTH 

During  this  whole  period,  from  1885  onw'ard,  the  South  was 
steadily  gaining  in  population  and  wealth.  In  1890  there  were 
22,700,000  people  in  the  southern  states,  including  Missouri 
and  Oklahoma.  In  1910  there  were  32,700,000.  The  most 
valuable  southern  product  was  corn,  most  of  which  was  con- 
sumed on  the  spot  as  food  for  man  and  beast.  Cotton  always 
attracted  more  attention,  because  it  was  the  staple  export  crop 
that  brought  in  cash.  By  1881  the  crop  reached  6,580,000 
bales  —  an  amount  larger  than  at  any  time  previous  to  the  Civil 
War.  The  area  of  cotton  land  was  broadened  by  the  use  of 
fertilizers,  which  brought  into  use  large  tracts  in  the  hill  country 
and  also  made  more  available  some  of  the  lands  of  the  "  Black 
Belt,"  which  stretches  across  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  The 
crop  rose  to  8,650,000  bales  in  1900  and  16,700,000  bales  in  1914. 

The  South  also  took  advantage  of  its  magnificent  uncut  tim- 
ber, much  of  it  yellow  pine,  which  found  a  ready  market.  The 
rich  coal  deposits  of  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  some  other  states 
were  at  last  developed,  and  also  the  iron  ore  beds,  so  that  great 


Material  Prosperity  of  the  South 


583 


centers  for  blast  furnaces  and  rolling  mills  arose  at  Chattanooga, 
Birmingham,  Greensboro,  and  elsewhere.  The  manufacturers 
boasted  that  they  could  make  pig  iron  cheaper  than  anybody 
else  in  the  world.  In  1901  immense  deposits  of  oil  were  dis- 
covered in  Texas,  and  afterwards  in  Oklahoma,  furnishing  a 
cheap  fuel  for  locomotives  and  useful  for  many  purposes.  The 
tobacco  of  Kentucky  and  other  states,  the  rice  of  Louisiana, 


ROUNDING  UP  CATTLE  ON  A  TEXAS  RANCH. 

Texas,  and  Arkansas,  and  the  "truck  farming"  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  and  eastern  Texas,  all  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  South. 
Immense  quantities  of  early  vegetables  were  shipped  to  the  north- 
ern cities,  and  orange  raising  became  a  regular  industry  of  Florida. 
The  South  at  last  became  a  manufacturing  region.  Besides 
the  iron  works,  there  were  some  great  machine-making  indus- 
tries, such  as  the  Richmond  Locomotive  Works.  The  greatest 
industrial  gain  for  the  South  was  the  building  up  of  a  great 
manufacture  of  cotton  cloth.  The  attempt  to  use  negro  labor 


584  New  South  and  Far  West 

in  cotton  mills  failed  wherever  it  was  tried,  but  the  "poor 
whites  "  were  drawn  from  their  little  farms  into  mill  towns,  many 
of  which  were  built  on  the  splendid  water  powers  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  Georgia,  and  Alabama.  Mill  towns  quickly  arose,  such 
as  Columbia  (South  Carolina),  Columbus  (Georgia),  and 
Tallassee  (Alabama).  These  towns  furnished  a  market  for  the 
products  of  the  farmers  who  had  stayed  on  their  land,  and  the 
whole  region  was  prosperous. 

To  provide  money  for  such  great  enterprises,  northern  and 
European  capital  flowed  in.  Banks  sprang  up  all  over  the 
South,  and  the  planters  and  manufacturers  soon  found  that 
their  savings  furnished  a  vast  capital  belonging  to  the  South 
which  could  be  used  to  develop  the  region.  This  prosperity 
reacted  on  the  cities.  Such  places  as  Norfolk,  Savannah, 
Atlanta,  Montgomery,  Mobile,  and  Memphis  grew  populous 
and  rich.  New  Orleans,  as  the  largest  southern  port  and  as  the 
center  of  a  network  of  railroads,  profited  by  these  improvements. 
Beyond  the  Mississippi  appeared  such  prosperous  cities  as 
Oklahoma  City,  Houston,  Dallas,  Fort  Worth,  and  San  Antonio. 

370.  LABOR  IN  THE  SOUTH 

All  this  growth  of  the  new  South  would  have  been  impossible 
but  for  a  new  labor  system.  The  South  drew  very  few  im- 
migrants from  foreign  countries ;  skilled  laborers  did  not  seem 
to  like  their  social  conditions;  and  except  a  few  thousand 
Italians,  foreigners  could  not  be  induced  to  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. For  the  crude,  rough  labor  of  the  country  both  in  the 
shop  and  in  the  field  the  main  reliance  was  upon  the  negroes. 
Though  the  cotton-mill  hands  were  all  white,  great  numbers 
of  negroes  were  employed  on  the  railroads,  and  in  the  iron 
works,  tobacco  factories,  cotton  gins,  oil  mills,  etc. ;  and  they 
did  most  of  the  heavy  work  in  the  cities  of  the  lower  South. 

As  for  farming,  fully  half  the  crops  of  the  South  were  raised 
by  farmers,  most  of  them  whites,  who  worked  their  own  land 
or  took  up  farms  as  renters.  The  other  half  was  produced  by 


Labor  in  the  South 


585 


negroes  working  on  the  plantations,  raising  corn,  cotton,  tobacco, 
rice,  garden  truck,  and  fruit.  Stock  raising  was  never  a  large  in- 
dustry in  the  South.  The  negro's  greatest  success  had  always 
been  as  a  farmer,  but  it  proved  very  hard  to  adapt  his  labor 
to  the  needs  of  the  large  plantations,  which  by  this  time  were 
run  mostly  for  owners  who  did  not  live  on  the  place.  On  many 


BALING  COTTON  IN  A  COTTON  GIN. 

such  plantations  the  laborers  were  hired  by  the  year  and  were 
commonly  paid  by  a  share  of  the  crop.  Cotton  must  be  planted 
eight  or  ten  months  before  the  crop  can  be  picked  and  sold, 
and  so  the  laborers  had  to  be  taken  care  of  till  the  crop 
was  made.  This  obliged  the  employers  to  "make  advances" 
for  provisions  and  supplies,  for  which  they  were  usually  obliged 
to  borrow  money  from  banks,  and  thus  they  practically  mort- 
gaged their  growing  crop  for  these  loans.  This  system  came 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  36 


586  New  South  and  Far  West 

down  from  the  time  before  the  Civil  War  and  was  expensive 
for  the  owner.  Moreover,  if  a  negro  broke  his  contract  in  the 
middle  of  the  season  and  threw  up  his  job,  it  might  be  impossi- 
ble to  find  another  to  take  his  place. 

Some  unscrupulous  employers  found  means  to  compel  negro 
hands,  and  sometimes  white  men,  to  work  for  them  against 
their  will.  This  was  called  "peonage"  and  had  to  be  broken 
up  by  prosecutions  of  the  worst  offenders.  The  jails  and  state 
prisons  held  large  numbers  of  negro  convicts  who  were  often 
treated  much  like  the  former  slaves.  Even  in  communities 
which  were  otherwise  highly  civilized,  the  custom  of  "lynching" 
was  practiced ;  that  is,  persons  accused  of  crime,  usually  negroes 
but  often  white  men,  were  seized  by  mobs,  and  were  barbarously 
killed,  frequently  by  burning  at  the  stake. 

371.   INTELLECTUAL  GROWTH  OF  THE  SOUTH 

One  of  the  evidences  of  advance  in  the  South  was  a  great 
improvement  in  education.  In  reconstruction  times  every 
southern  state  provided  a  common  school  system  both  for  the 
towns  and  for  the  open  country.^ Some  states  were  never  will- 
ing to  spend  enough  money  for  good  schools.  Others,  like 
Louisiana,  built  up  a  first-class  system.  The  main  difficulty 
was  in  the  back  country,  where  the  children  were  few  and  the 
schools  were  often  very  poor.  Another  trouble  was  that  the 
school  days  in  the  year  for  the  country  schools  were  often  only 
about  two  thirds  as  many  as  in  the  northern  states. 

For  higher  education  new  endowed  universities  appeared, 
such  as  Tulane  University  in  New  Orleans  and  Rice  Institute 
in  Houston.  The  state  universities  were  brought  up  to  a  much 
higher  standard,  especially  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Texas.  Agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  were  built  in 
every  state,  and  they  educated  young  men  for  science  and 
engineering.  Normal  schools  for  men  and  women  prepared 
the  teachers  of  the  lower  schools.  Southern  educators  took  a 
high  place  in  the  national  associations.  Several  excellent 


Intellectual  Growth  of  the  South 


587 


southern  writers  made  a  national  reputation,  especially  Joel 
Chandler  Harris  and  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  who  wrote  on 
southern  subjects.  Societies  like  the  Confederate  Veterans  and 
the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  kept  warm  the  memories 
of  the  Civil  War.  Southern  statesmen  in  Congress  and  in  the 
Cabinet  took  places  alongside  the  eastern  and  western  men. 

In  this  intellectual  growth  the  negroes  had  a  slender  share. 
Few  of  them  could  expect  higher  education.  The  negro  schools 
did  not  carry  children 
so  far  as  the  white 
schools  did.  Excel- 
lent high  schools  for 
white  boys  and  girls 
were  opened  all  over 
the  South,  but  many 


VIEW  ON  THE  CAMPUS  AT  TUSKEGEE. 


towns  and  cities  pro- 
vided no  public  higher 
instruction  for  ne- 
groes. For  their 
needs,  however,  spe- 
cial normal  schools 
were  established  and 
some  technical  schools  were  provided  by  the  states.  Twenty- 
five  or  thirty  negro  institutions  existed,  called  colleges,  mostly 
supported  by  gifts  from  the  North :  the  most  successful  were 
Atlanta  University,  Hampton  Institute  in  Virginia,  and  Tus- 
kegee  in  Alabama,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington, for  a  long  time  the  most  eminent  member  of  his  race. 
Some  two  hundred  private  and  endowed  schools  were  founded 
for  negroes.  The  negroes  shared  in  the  general  prosperity. 
Negro  business  men  and  bankers  appeared.  A  few  negroes 
gathered  together  large  estates  of  plantation  land  which  they 
rented ;  and  there  were  always  a  few  trained  leaders  who  edited 
newspapers,  headed  negro  institutions,  and  aroused  a  sense  of 
the  possibilities  for  their  race. 


588 


New  South  and  Tar  West 


.     V     |V'!I',      "        "ft 

OKLAHOMA  CITY  ON  THE  DAY  THE  LAND  WAS  OPENED  TO  SETTLEMENT, 
APRIL  22,  1889. 

372.   GROWTH  OF  THE  FAR  WEST 

The  South  in  this  period  was  made  up  mostly  of  old  settled 
communities.  The  far  West  was  planted  on  new  land,  some 
of  which  had  to  be  won  from  the  Indians.  In  1886  the  Apaches, 
the  scourges  of  the  Southwest,  who  had  been  the  most  ferocious 
of  the  Indian  enemies  of  the  United  States,  were  at  last  sub- 
dued. The  next  year,  Congress  passed  the  "Severally  Act" 
which  offered  free  farms  to  Indians  who  would  leave  their  tribes 
and  become  citizens.  In  1889,  when  a  great  area  of  good  farm 
land  was  opened  for  settlement  in  a  part  of  Indian  Territory 
(later  set  off  as  the  territory  of  Oklahoma),  the  applicants 
for  lands  were  so  much  more  numerous  than  the  opportunities, 
that  there  was  a  frantic  rush  from  the  border  line  to  the  in- 
terior, where  the  farms  and  town  lots  could  be  taken  up. 

One  of  the  great  industries  of  the  Southwest  and  part  of  the 
Northwest  was  cattle  raising,  which  required  not  only  grass  but 
convenient  water.  Hence  ranchmen  who  had  possession  of  the 
river  fronts  could  prevent  anybody  from  taking  up  public  land 
which  lay  behind  them,  and  used  that  method  to  keep  large 
areas  of  government  land  under  their  control.  In  some  cases, 


Growth  of  the  Far  West 


589 


OKLAHOMA  CITY  FOUR  WEEKS  LATER. 

they  had  the  effrontery  to  fence  in  government  land  and  pre- 
vent others  from  making  use  of  the  common  advantage. 

Another  source  of  trouble  was  the  system  of  irrigating  lands. 
The  first  comers  often  took  up  river  fronts  and  then  dug  irri- 
gating canals  to  carry  the  water  to  the  back  lands.  Later 
comers  would  take  water  farther  up  the  river  and  thus  reduce 
the  flow  so  that  the  earlier  farmers  lost  their  supply  of  water. 
This  gave  rise  to  endless  difficulties  and  lawsuits. 

In  1902  the  government  stepped  in  to  develop  the  opportuni- 
ties for  storing  water  on  the  public  lands,  so  as  to  provide  for 
irrigation.  To  protect  government  timber  and  keep  the  streams 
from  drying  up,  the  government  in  1891  began  to  set  off  various 
forest  reserves  and  national  parks. 

Except  the  two  Dakotas,  which  were  a  part  of  the  middle 
West,  and  Oklahoma,  which  was  southern,  all  the  new  states 
admitted  after  1889  belonged  to  the  far  western  group.  They 
occupied  the  broad  and  confused  mountain  mass  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  the  so-called  Great  Basin,  the  valleys  of  the  Colo- 
rado and  Columbia,  and  the  Pacific  slope.  This  region  included 
many  broad  and  fertile  valleys,  but  no  grassy,  extended  plains 
like  the  prairies  of  the  middle  West.  Fully  three  fourths  of  this 


590  New  South  and  Far  West 

area  was  barren  mountain  or  desert.  Most  of  the  coast  strip 
received  plenty  of  rain,  but  through  eastern  Washington  and 
Oregon,  Nevada,  southern  California,  and  the  states  farther 
east,  lay  immense  areas  of  desolate,  rainless  land.  Some  of 

( i    the  principal  railroads, 

such  as  the  line  from 
Salt  Lake  City  to  Los 
Angeles,  passed  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles  through 
rocky  or  sandy  wilder- 
nesses. The  Colorado 
River  had  worn  its  way 
thousands  of  feet  down 

A  GOLD  DREDGER.  below    the    level    of   a 

sterile  plateau. 

Nevertheless  there  were  many  beautiful  and  rich  spaces,  such 
as  the  so-called  "parks"  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Willa- 
mette valley  in  Oregon,  and  the  great  interior  valleys  of  Cali- 
fornia, in  which  grain,  vegetables,  and  fruit  came  to  perfection. 
The  state  governments  all  made  it  a  point  to  foster  the  in- 
dustries of  the  state,  whether  fisheries,  grain  growing,  fruit 
growing,  mining,  or  lumbering. 

373.  TRAVEL  AND  SCENERY  IN  THE  FAR  WEST 

The  first  necessity  of  the  scattered  settlements  was  railroads, 
and  the  local  traffic  was  cared  for  by  the  through  lines  from  the 
Pacific  coast  eastward.  Besides  the  various  land  grant  roads 
which  reached  the  Pacific  —  the  Northern  Pacific,  Union  Pacific, 
Southern  Pacific,  and  Atchison  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  —  several 
through  lines  were  built  by  private  capital,  particularly  the 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  and  the  Western  Pacific ;  the  Great 
Northern  —  the  work  of  James  J.  Hill  —  and  the  Milwaukee 
St.  Paul  and  Pacific  routes  from  Lake  Superior  and  Lake 
Michigan  to  Puget  Sound;  and  the  Oregon  Short  Line  from 
the  neighborhood  of  Salt  Lake  City  to  Portland.  Several 


Travel  and  Scenery  in  the  Far  West        591 

different  railroads  combined  to  make  a  continuous  line  of 
rail  from  the  British  boundary,  near  Vancouver,  south  to  San 
Diego.  The  Chicago  and  North  Western  and  the  Chicago 
Burlington  and  Quincy  railroads  built  from  Chicago  west- 
ward to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

One  of  the  great  assets  of  the  far  West  is  its  magnificent 
natural  scenery,  which  has  for  many  years  drawn  visitors  from 
all  over  the  world.  The 
Grand  Canyon  of  the  Ar- 
kansas and  the  canyon  of 
the  Feather  River  offer 
magnificent  views  from  the 
car  window.  The  whole 
Pacific  coast  abounds  in 
picturesque  cliffs  and  bays 
and  islands  and  harbors. 
Among  the  superb  areas 
reserved  by  the  United 
States  government  for  per- 
petual pleasure  grounds, 
are  the  Yellowstone  Na- 
tional Park  in  and  near 
northwestern  Wyoming, 
the  Glacier  Park  on  the 
Canadian  border,  and 
Rocky  Mountain  Park 
near  -Denver. 

The  Columbia  River  is  one  of  the  most  magnificent  navigable 
streams  in  the  world.  From  Mt.  Shuksan  in  Washington  to 
Mt.  Shasta  in  northern  California,  there  is  a  procession  of  the 
most  magnificent  glacier-covered  volcanic  peaks  such  as  Mt. 
Rainier,  otherwise  called  Mt.  Tacoma,  Mt.  Adams,  Mt.  St. 
Helens,  and  Mt.  Hood.  The  lofty  Sierra  Nevada  does  not  rise 
in  startling  peaks,  but  it  contains  unrivaled  valleys,  especially 
the  Yosemite,  which  is  not  to  be  matched  in  the  whole  world 


JAMES  J.  HILL. 


592  New  South  and  Far  West 

for  the  height  and  beauty  of  its  waterfalls,  the  grandeur  of  its 
cliffs,  and  the  contrast  between  the  granite  mountains  and  the 
green  wooded  floor  of  the  valley.  In  the  neighborhood  are 
several  groves  of  the  marvelous  Big  Trees,  which  rise  as  high  as 
four  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  Farther  east  lies  the  Grand  Canyon 
of  the  Colorado,  which  offers  the  most  superb  natural  scenery  on 
earth.  Instead  of  standing  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain  and  look- 
ing up  five  thousand  feet,  the  observer  stands  on  the  brink  of 
an  abyss  and  looks  down  five  thousand  feet  to  the  boiling  river. 

374.   THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  FAR  WEST  IN  1910 

In  no  large  area  of  the  country  was  the  population  so  mixed 
as  in  the  far  West.  According  to  the  census  of  1910,  1,400,000 
persons,  out  of  the  western  population  of  6,800,000,  were  born 
outside  the  United  States ;  1,700,000  were  children  of  foreigners ; 
2,100,000  were  born  in  the  United  States  of  native  white  stock 
but  outside  of  the  states  in  which  they  then  resided.  Only 
1,600,000  were  born  in  the  states  in  which  they  lived.  Some 
cities,  like  Portland  and  Los  Angeles,  were  made  up  chiefly  of 
people  who  immigrated  from  the  eastern  states.  Others  abounded 
in  foreign  immigrants.  For  instance,  in  1890  Denver  contained 
forty-seven  per  cent  foreign  born  or  children  of  foreigners,  and 
San  Francisco  contained  sixty-eight  per  cent  —  more  than  two 
thirds.  Whatever  their  origin,  the  people  had  a  strong  sense 
of  pride  in,  and  devotion  to,  their  own  states  as  well  as  a  love  for 
their  section.  They  were  great  travelers,  freely  moving  about 
in  their  own  neighborhood,  which  might  be  a  thousand  miles  wide. 
They  traveled  across  the  continent  to  "The  States,"  as  they 
called  any  place  east  of  Denver.  In  the  mountains,  where  the 
chief  industry  was  mining,  large  numbers  of  foreign  working- 
men  were  found.  The  far  West  was  the  only  part  of  the 
country  in  which  there  was  any  considerable  Asiatic  population. 
46,000  of  the  72,000  Chinese,  and  58,000  of  the  72,000  Japanese 
in  the  United  States  in  1910,  were  living  in  the  three  states  of 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  California.  Hence  those  states  were 


The  South  and  the  West  in  Politics         593 

the  centers  of  the  protest  against  admitting  immigrants  from 
any  Asiatic  country. 

The  far  West  was  very  proud  of  its  schools  and  universities. 
In  every  state  there  was  a  complete  system  of  schools,  so  that 
even  in  the  most  remote  mountain  regions,  children  might  have 
the  opportunity  of  an  education.  Public  high  schools  were  of 
a  high  grade,  and  every  state  had  a  public  university,  which 
was  aided  by  the  government.  The  University  of  California 


STADIUM  OF  THE  TACOMA  HIGH  SCHOOL,  TACOMA,  WASHINGTON. 

was  the  oldest  in  the  far  West.  In  Washington  there  were 
practically  two  universities,  one  in  the  eastern  section  and  one 
in  the  western.  The  agricultural,  mining,  and  academic  uni- 
versities of  Colorado  were  situated  in  three  towns  a  few  miles 
apart. 

375.  THE  SOUTH  AND  THE  WEST  IN  POLITICS 

Both  the  South  and  the  far  West  had  interests  which  affected 
their  point  of  view  on  political  questions.  After  reconstruc- 
tion the  South  was  determined  that  the  negroes  should  have 


594  New  South  and  Far  West 

no  deciding  part  in  elections.  They  were  frightened  away 
from  the  polls  in  some  states  by  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  (§321); 
later  in  some  states,  as  South  Carolina,  perplexing  laws  were 
passed  for  the  purpose  of  making  it  difficult  for  the  negro 
to  vote. 

Beginning  in  1890  a  new  system  was  devised  by  which  the 
suffrage  of  the  negroes  was  much  diminished :  New  constitu- 
tions or  amendments  were  adopted  in  the  seven  states  of  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
Virginia,  and  Oklahoma  by  which  no  one  could  vote  who  could 
not  prove  that  he  possessed  rather  difficult  qualifications.  He 
must  show  a  receipted  tax  bill ;  or  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  an 
election  board  that  he  could  understand  clauses  of  the  state 
constitution,  or  that  he  was  descended  from  a  person  who  was 
a  voter  before  the  Civil  War.  This  last  provision,  the  so- 
called  "Grandfather  clause,"  led  to  lawsuits  in  which  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  held  that  such  clauses  were 
unconstitutional.  These  provisions  were  nominally  the  same 
for  negro  and  white  voters,  but  were  intended  to  be  so  applied 
as  to  shut  out  the  colored  voters  and  leave  all  or  nearly  all  the 
white  men  free  to  vote. 

Notwithstanding  these  precautions,  the  fear  that  the  negroes 
might  dominate  in  politics  kept  the  "solid  South"  (§  337) 
together.  Negroes  were  still  allowed  freely  to  vote  in  Ten- 
nessee, Florida,  Texas,  and  Missouri,  and  there  were  some  Re- 
publican white  voters  in  all  the  southern  states.  Still,  not  a  single 
southern  state  chose  Republican  electors  in  1892.  Only  Ken- 
tucky, Maryland,  and  West  Virginia  were  Republican  in  1896, 
and  in  1912  and  1916  every  southern  state  again  was  Democratic. 
In  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  a  Republican  governor  was  occa- 
sionally elected,  but  in  most  cases  no  one  in  the  South  could 
expect  to  be  chosen  to  a  high  state  or  city  office  except  Demo- 
crats. Inasmuch  as  the  South  could  be  depended  upon  to 
vote  for  any  Democratic  candidate  in  national  elections  it  was 
not  thought  necessary  to  put  southern  candidates  on  the  Demo- 


Review  595 

cratic  ticket  either  for  President  or  for  Vice  President,  except 
that  in  1904  a  West  Virginia  man  was  nominated  with  Bryan. 
In  some  parts  of  the  South  there  was  a  strong  feeling  in  favor 
of  the  tariff,  especially  among  the  cotton  and  iron  manufacturers 
and  the  sugar  growers  of  Louisiana,  but  it  was  hard  to  give  this 
interest  expression  without  throwing  over  the  Democratic 
ticket. , 

The  far  West  was  the  home  of  experiments  in  popular  govern- 
ment. The  direct  primary,  initiative,  referendum,  and  recall 
of  officials,  discussed  in  a  following  chapter,  either  began  in 
the  far  West  or  were  enthusiastically  taken  up  there.  From 
1878  to  1900  the  silver-producing  states  of  the  far  West  were 
strong  advocates  of  free  silver,  and  the  Pacific  coast  was  the 
seat  of  the  movement  against  the  immigration  of  Asiatics. 

376.   REVIEW 

The  sections  in  the  Union  after  1885  were:  New  England, 
the  middle  states,  the  South,  the  middle  West,  and  the  far  West, 
all  of  them  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  and  kinship.  From 
1889  to  1896,  seven  new  states  were  admitted  into  the  Union: 
the  two  Dakotas,  Montana,  Washington,  Idaho,  Wyoming, 
and  Utah.  Oklahoma  was  added  in  1907  and  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  in  1912,  thus  making  a  total  of  forty-eight  states. 

The  South  began  to  flourish  again  after  1885 ;  it  included 
about  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  and  was 
raising  immense  crops  of  cotton  and  developing  its  resources 
of  timber,  oil,  and  farming  products.  Manufactures  were 
developed,  capital  was  brought  in,  and  cities  grew  prosperous. 

The  negroes,  though  not  employed  in  textile  and  similar 
manufactures,  did  much  of  the  rough  labor  and  raised  about 
half  the  crops.  The  South  suffered  from  a  vicious  system  of 
money  advances  to  cotton  growers  and  to  laborers.  Some 
attempts  were  made  to  secure  forced  labor  from  negroes  and 
others  by  peonage.  Lynchings  often  interfered  with  the  course 
of  justice.  The  southern  states  built  up  a  good  system  of  grade 


596  New  South  and  Far  West 

schools,  high  schools,  and  universities,  of  which  few  were 
open  to  the  negroes. 

In  the  far  West,  the  Indians  ceased  to  be  troublesome. 
The  question  of  water  rights  gave  concern  to  both  the  stock 
holders  and  the  farmers  on  irrigated  land.  Excellent  railroads 
were  built  from  east  to  west  across  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  along  the  Pacific  coast.  These  brought  travelers  into  touch 
with  the  magnificent  scenery  of  the  mountains  and  the  coast. 
Population  in  the  far  West  was  still  sparse  and  included  great 
numbers  of  foreigners.  The  people,  however,  set  up  an  ex- 
cellent system  of  public  education. 

In  some  of  the  southern  states,  laws  or  constitutions,  includ- 
ing the  "Grandfather  clause,"  were  made  so  as  to  shut  out  a 
great  part  of  the  negro  vote.  Most  of  the  southern  states, 
united  as  the  ''solid  South,"  usually  cast  their  votes  for  Demo- 
cratic governors,  senators,  and  presidential  electors.  In  the 
West  many  new  political  methods  were  tried  out,  and  there 
was  great  agitation  in  politics. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  map,  p.  578.  —  Brigham,  Geogr.  Influ- 
ences, chs.  viii-x.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,  53.  —  Shepherd,  Hist.  Atlas, 
203. 

Secondary.  Beard,  Conlemp.  Am.  Hist.,  ch.  i.  —  Brown,  Lower 
South,  247-271.  —  Cable,  Negro  Question.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist., 
307-312.  —  Eastman,  Indian  To-day.  —  Hart,  Southern  South. — 
Ha  worth,  America  in  Ferment,  ch.  v.  —  Kephart,  Southern  Highlanders. 

—  Leupp,  Indian  and  his  Problem.  —  Markham,  California,  chs.  xiii-xix.  — 
Murphy,    Present   South.  —  Paine,   Greater    America.  —  Paxson,    New 
Nation,    151-157,    192-207.  —  Ralph,    Dixie;    Great   West.  —  Smythe, 
Conquest  of  Arid  America.  —  Wilson,  Am.  People,  V.  136-140,  190-204, 
210-214. 

Sources.  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  605,  622-629,  640- 
643,  750.  —  DuBois,  Souls  of  Black  Folk.  —  Grady,  New  South.  — 
Harding,  Select  Orations,  nos.  33,  34.  —  Herbert,  Why  the  Solid  South? 

—  King,    Mountaineering  in  the  Sierra    Nevada.  —  MacDonald,  Select 
Statutes,   nos.    115,    116,    118,    TTQ.  —  Muir,    Mountains   of    California. 

—  Van   Dyke,  The  Desert.  —  Washington,    Up  from  Slavery. 


References  and  Topics  597 

Illustrative.  Atherton,  Ancestors.  —  Craddock,  Prophet  of  the  Great 
Smoky  Mountains.  —  Chesnutt,  Marrow  of  Tradition  (negroes).  — 
Dunbar,  Folks  from  Dixie  (negroes) ;  Lyrics.  —  Foote,  Chosen  Valley 
(irrigation).  —  Moore,  Bishop  of  Cottonlown.  —  Page,  The  Southerner.  — 
Rayner,  Handicapped  among  the  Free.  —  Sanborn,  A  Truthful  Woman  in 
Southern  California.  —  Smith,  Colonel  Carter.  — •  Stewart,  Letters  of  a 
\Vnm.in  Homesteader.  —  Wister,  Lady  Baltimore.'—  Wright,  Winning  of 
Barbara  Worth. 

Pictures.  Century.  —  Collier's  Weekly.  —  Dunbar,  Hist,  of  Travel 
in  A  m.  —  Harper's  Weekly.  —  Independent.  —  Literary  Digest.  — 
McKinley,  Illus.  Topics  for  A  m.  Hist.  —  Mentor,  serial  nos.  60,  72,  83,  92, 
116. — National  Geographic  Magazine. —  National  Parks  Portfolio. — 
Outlook.  —  Review  of  Reviews.  —  Survey.  —  World's  Work. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Admission  of  one  of  the  following  states:  North  Dakota;  South 
Dakota;  Montana;  Washington;  Utah;  Oklahoma.  [§  368]  — 
(2)  Cultivation  of  corn,  or  cotton,  or  wheat.  [§  369]  —  (3)  Discoveries 
of  oil  in  the  Southwest.  [§  369]  —  (4)  Plantation  laborers:  negro 
or  white.  [§  370]  —  (5)  Southern  farmers:  white  or  negro.  [§  370]  — 
(6)  Education  in  the  South  :  common  schools ;  or  normal  schools ;  or 
colleges;  or  state  universities.  [§  371]  —  (7)  Literary  career  of:  Joel 
Chandler  Harris;  or  Thomas  Nelson  Page;  or  Hopkinson  Smith. 
[§  37*1  —  (8)  Negro  education  in  the  South:  common  schools  or  col- 
leges. [§  371]  —  (9)  Educational  career  of  Booker  T.  Washington. 
[§  371!  —  (I0)  Account  of  one:  national  parks;  national  monuments; 
national  forests.  [§  372]  —  (n)  A  railroad  trip  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  about  1900.  [§  373]  —  (12)  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado. 
[§  373]  —  (!3)  Description  of:  western  mining  town;  or  western  fruit 
ranch;  or  western  summer  resort.  [§  374] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(14)  Early  northern  visitors  to  the  South.  [§  367]  —  (15)  Southern 
students  in  northern  colleges.  [§  367]  —  (16)  Southern  cotton  mill 
towns.  [§  369]  —  (17)  Why  are  there  few  foreign  immigrants  in  the 
South?  [§  370]  —  (18)  Description  of  peonage.  [§  370]  —  (19)  Tribal 
Indians  in  Indian  Territory.  [§  372]  —  (20)  Cattle  raising  in  the  South- 
west. [§372] 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 


BROADENING   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT   (1901-1912) 

377.   PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

A  NEW  note  was  struck  in  public  affairs  when  Theodore 
Roosevelt  became  President.     No  man  for  many  years  had  come 

to  that  place  so  free 
from  obligations  to 
party  leaders,  so  little 
hampered  by  the  politi- 
cal traditions  of  Con- 
gress and  the  White 
House.  Theodore 
Roosevelt  was  born  in 
New  York  in  1858,  of 
Dutch,  German,  Irish, 
and  English  descent. 
He  graduated  from 
Harvard  College  in 
1880,  and  in  1883  was 
a  member  of  the  New 
York  legislature,  where 
he  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  fighter  for 
cheaper  fares  on  the 
THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  New  York  elevated 

roads.     Then    he    car- 
ried on  a  cattle  ranch  in  North  Dakota  and  wrote  several  books 
on  open-air  life  and  American  history. 
S98 


Internal  Affairs  599 

From  1889  to  1895  he  was  the  leading  spirit  of  the  National 
Civil  Service  Commission  (§  355).  For  two  years  he  was  a 
Police  Commissioner  in  the  city  of  New  York.  In  1897-1898 
he  was  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  but  resigned  to  enter 
the  army,  and  was  one  of  the  few  men  who,  in  the  Spanish 
War,  attracted  popular  attention  by  military  services  on  land. 
The  reputation  thus  gained  practically  made  him  governor  of 
New  York  (1899) ;  he  was  very  outspoken  and  active  in  that 
office ;  and  the  New  York  political  leaders  thought  it  wise  to 
shelve  him  by  making  him  Vice  President  (1901).  Roosevelt's 
distinguishing  qualities  in  his  various  offices  were  the  courage 
to  hold  and  express  an  opinion  for  himself,  quick  resolution, 
firmness  of  decision,  public  criticism  of  opponents,  and  a  fixed 
policy  of  openness  and  publicity  in  all  that  he  did,  that  left  no 
opportunity  for  private  understandings  and  deals. 

378.   INTERNAL  AFFAIRS  (1901-1904) 

For  a  time,  President  Roosevelt  continued  in  office  the  Cabi- 
net left  by  McKinley.  •  John  Hay  remained  Secretary  of  State 
till  his  death  in  1905,  when  Elihu  Root  of  New  York  succeeded 
him.  Gradually  a  new  set  of  heads  of  departments  came  in ; 
and  a  new  Cabinet  position  was  created  by  the  organization  of 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  (1903).  Besides  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  the  President  consulted  with  a  group 
of  young  men  who  held  government  positions ;  they  were  often 
called  the  "Tennis  Cabinet."  In  fact  the  President  consulted 
with  everybody:  with  senators  and  representatives,  with 
party  leaders,  with  thousands  of  visitors  to  the  White  House. 
Having  filled  up  his  mind  with  information  from  all  sources 
he  then  made  his  decisions  so  swiftly  and  energetically  that 
many  people  thought  him  impulsive. 

As  a  former  chairman  of  the.  Civil  Service  Commission, 
Roosevelt  was  especially  interesr^Lin  improving  the  national 
public  service.  He  found  84,000  government  employees  in 
the  "classified  service,"  entrance  to  which  waS  to  be  had  only 


600  Broadening  of  the  Government 

through  competitive  examination.  By  1904,  this  number 
was  raised  to  143,000,  which  was  about  half  of  all  the  civil 
employees  of  the  government.  Outside  of  this  list,  7000 
officials  held  their  places  on  "presidential  appointments," 
which  required  confirmation  by  the  Senate ;  and  8s.,ooo  were 
country  postmasters  and  mail  clerks,  who  were  not  considered 
subject  to  the  reformed  system. 

Roosevelt  was  much  interested  in  the  diplomatic  and  consular 
service.  He  made  it  a  point  to  follow  the  unusual  method  of 
transferring  good  foreign  ministers  to  higher  diplomatic  posts. 
He  also  began  an  improvement  in  the  consular  service,  by  keep- 
ing experienced  men  in  their  places,  and  in  1906  directed  that 
all  the  higher  posts  in  the  consular  service  should  be  filled  by 
promotions  from  lower  places. 

President  Roosevelt  was  specially  confronted  by  a  question 
which  had  been  difficult  for  forty  years  —  that  of  nomi- 
nating colored  men  for  office.  Such  appointments  were 
frequent  in  the  northern  states ;  but  though  there  were 
several  hundred  thousand  negro  voters  in  the  South,  notwith- 
standing the  effect  of  the  new  suffrage  laws  (§  375),  only  a  few 
responsible  and  well-paid  offices  were  held  by  them  in  that 
section.  Roosevelt  continued  the  practice  of  nominating  a 
few  such  men  and  declared  in  a  public  letter  that  he  would 
not  "shut  the  door  of  opportunity"  on  the  members  of  the 
negro  race. 

The  President  proceeded  on  the  Jacksonian  theory  (§  215) 
that  he  represented  the  people  at  large,  and  in  1902  came  for- 
ward as  a  mediator  in  a  great  coal  strike.  The  anthracite 
miners  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  struck  for  higher  wages,  and  the 
eastern  states  were  left  without  the  necessary  supply  of  fuel  at 
the  beginning  of  the  winter.  '  The  state  government  was  unable 
to  deal  with  the  matter,  and  there  was  then  no  national  ma- 
chinery for  that  purpose.  John  Mitchell,  a  labor  leader,  worked 
for  a  settlement,  and  President  Roosevelt,  by  consent  of  both 
sides,  appointed  an  informal  commission  which  settled  the  strike 


Internal  Affairs 


601 


by  arranging  for  an  increase  of  wages.     The  price  of  coal  rose 
in  proportion. 

The  great  question  of  trusts  and  monopolies  was  still  in 
confusion.  A  few  ineffective  prosecutions  had  been  brought 
by  McKinley's  administration  under  the  Sherman  Antitrust  Act 
of  1890  (§  351).  Roosevelt  directed  that  other  corporations 
be  prosecuted,  and  especially 
pushed  a  suit  to  prevent  the 
"merger"  —  that  is,  the  con- 
solidation—of the  Great  North- 
ern, the  Northern  Pacific,  and 
the  Chicago  Burling- 
ton and  Quincy  rail- 
roads which  tended 
to  make  a  monopoly 
of  the  railroad  busi- 
ness in  the  North- 


TYPE 


)MOTIVES   IN    1876,    1903,   AND    1914. 


west.  The  Supreme  Court  (1904)  held  that  the  Sherman  Act 
applied  to  monopolies  of  railroads  as  well  as  to  other  corpora- 
tions, and  quashed  the  merger.  This  decision  seemed  likely  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  consolidations  of  railroads. 

Meanwhile  a  more  stringent  antitrust  act  was  passed  in 
1903,  under  which  the  United  States  government  required 
corporations  which  were  doing  any  interstate  business  to  allow 
the  inspection  of  their  accounts.  It  was  believed  that  many  of 
the  evils  of  trusts  and  combinations  would  disappear  if  the 
trusts  could  be  compelled  to  tell  the  public  what  they  were 
HART'S  NEW  AMER.  HIST.  —  37 


602  Broadening   of  the  Government 

doing.  The  new  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  estab- 
lished a  Bureau  of  Corporations  whose  business  it  was  to  gather 
information,  investigate  abuses,  and  apply  the  laws. 

379.  THE  ISTHMIAN  CANAL  (1898-1904) 

These  changes  and  reforms  were  obscured  in  the  public 
mind  by  exciting  events  which  brought  about  the  building  of 
an  Isthmian  Canal,  under  the  ownership  and  control  of  the 
United  States.  The  voyage  of  the  battleship  Oregon  in  1898, 
when  it  was  compelled  to  steam  1 5 ,000  miles  from  San  Francisco 
to  join  the  fleet  in  the  West  Indies,  called  attention  to  the  need 
of  a  shorter  route  from  ocean  to  ocean.  The  French  Panama 
Canal  Company,  after  its  breakdown  in  1889  (§  338),  was  re- 
organized and  made  a  second  attempt  to  complete  the  canal 
and  thus  to  save  the  capital  that  had  gone  into  it,  but  again 
suspended  operations  in  1899.  Nevertheless  it  held  the  land 
•on  the  canal  route  and  the  concession  to  build  the  canal,  and  it 
owned  the  Panama  Railroad. 

A  rising  sentiment  in  the  United  States  demanded  that  the 
only  way  to  build  a  canal  or  to  make  a  canal  worth  while  to  the 
world,  was  for  the  United  States  to  undertake  the  task.  The 
American  Nicaragua  Company  (§  338)  had  done  little  work  on 
the  more  northern  route,  and  asked  Congress  to  take  their 
work  and  concessions  off  their  hands.  In  order  to  act  intelli- 
gently Congress  authorized  a  special  commission  of  experts, 
and  the  President  appointed  five  of  the  ablest  engineers  in  the 
land.  They  made  the  first  trustworthy  surveys  of  the  isthmus 
routes  and  reported  (1900)  that  the  United  States  ought  to 
build  on  the  Nicaragua  route,  because  the  French  Panama 
Company  would  not  come  to  any  reasonable  terms  for  the  pur- 
chase of  their  property  and  rights.  Between  the  lines  it  was 
clear  that  the  commission  thought  the  Panama  route  the  more 
desirable  one. 

A  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  any  American  route  was  the 
Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  (§  233)  under  which  the  British  govern- 


The  Isthmian  Canal  603 

ment  had  an  equal  interest  with  the  United  States  in  any  canal 
that  might  be  built.  The  British  in  1882  had  taken  possession 
of  Egypt  and  become  controlling  owners  of  the  Suez  Canal; 
and  it  did  not  seem  fair  that  they  should  also  control  a  half 
interest  in  an  American  canal.  Inasmuch  as  during  the  Span- 
ish War  the  British  government  and  people  showed  warm 
sympathy  with  the  United  States,  and  plainly  desired  to  re- 
move any  jealousies  between  the  two  English-speaking  coun- 
tries, the  United  States  proposed  that  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty  be  given  up.  By  the  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty  (November 
18,  1901),  Great  Britain  agreed  to  make'no  claims  to  take  part 
in  the  construction  or  control  of  the  canal;  in  return,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  tolls  charged  should  be  equal  for  all  nations. 
So  far  as  foreign  nations  were  concerned,  the  United  States  was 
then  free  to  handle  the  matter  for  itself.  Public  sentiment 
demanded  an  American  canal  built  with  the  funds  of  the 
United  States  government. 

The  French  company  offered  to  sell  out  for  $40,000,000  cash. 
The  only  obstacle  to  the  wishes  of  the  United  States  was  that 
the  Panama  route  ran  through  the  territory  of  Colombia.  A 
strong  movement  in  the  United  States  favored  settling  the 
matter  by  taking  the  Nicaragua  route,  where  the  local  gov- 
ernment was  eager  to  have  a  canal.  Congress,  therefore, 
passed  an  act  (June  28,  1902)  authorizing  the  President  to 
accept  the  French  company's  offer,  provided  Colombia  would 
cede  the  control  of  the  necessary  land  strip  "within  a  rea- 
sonable time  and  upon  reasonable  terms."  Otherwise  he 
was  directed  to  begin  construction  of  the  canal  on  the  Nicaragua 
route. 

This  pressure  caused  the  government  of  Colombia  to  draw 
up  and  offer  a  treaty,  by  which  the  United  States,  for  a  stipu- 
lated payment,  was  to  acquire  the  desired  control  over  the  line 
of  the  canal.  The  Colombian  Congress,  however,  refused  rati- 
fication of  this  treaty,  either  because  it  wanted  more  money, 
or  because  it  expected  the  French  grant  to  lapse  so  that  the 


BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  or  THE  PANAMA  CANAL  AND  THE  CANAL  ZONE. 
604 


Internal  Affairs  605 

$40,000,000  would  go  to  Colombia.  About  six  weeks  later  an 
insurrection  broke  out  in  Panama,  which  was  then  a  state  of 
the  United  States  of  Colombia.  The  insurrection  would  have 
probably  failed  but  for  the  presence  of  United  States  marines, 
who  headed  off  the  Colombian  troops.  A  republic  of  Panama 
was  set  up  (November  3,  1903).  Within  three  days,  the  re- 
public was  recognized  by  the  United  States,  and  later  by  Euro- 
pean nations.  The  new  government  of  Panama  hastened  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  on  the  same  lines  as  that  with  Colombia 
(February,  1904).  It  ceded  a  "Canal  Zone"  ten  miles  wide  in 
which  the  United  States  was  to  have  sovereign  control.  The 
United  States  paid  $10,000,000  down  and  agreed  to  pay 
$250,000  a  year  to  Panama.  Having  thus  prepared  the  way, 
the  President  appointed  civilian  engineers,  put  them  in  charge, 
and  urged  them  to  "make  the  dirt  fly." 

380.  INTERNAL  AFFAIRS  (1904-1908) 

When  the  Panama  question  was  thus  settled  to  the  mind  of 
the  government,  the  two  main  political  parties  prepared  for  the 
presidential  election  of  1904.  Roosevelt  was  renominated  by 
the  Republicans  without  opposition.  The  Democratic  party 
was  divided  between  the  Free  Silverites  headed  by  Bryan,  and 
those  who  were  ready  to  accept  the  gold  standard  as  permanent. 
The  latter  were  able  to  control  the  nominating  convention  and 
to  nominate  Judge  Alton  B.  Parker  of  New  York,  who  stood 
distinctly  on  the  gold  basis. 

The  currency  question  being  thus  out  of  the  way,  the  main 
issues  of  the  campaign  were  "Imperialism"  (which  meant 
the  question  of  the  Philippines),  the  tariff,  and  the  relation  of 
the  two  great  parties  to  the  trusts.  In  the  election,  Judge 
Parker  carried  the  "solid  South"  except  Missouri  and  one 
elector  in  Maryland.  Roosevelt  carried  all  the  other  states  in 
the  Union,  and  had  336  electoral  votes  to  140,  and  a  popular 
plurality  of  about  2,500,000  votes.  The  Socialist  candidate, 
Eugene  V.  Debs,  received  400,000  votes;  the  People's  party 


606  Broadening  of  the  Government 

candidate,  Thomas  E.  Watson,  had  120,000  votes;  and  the 
Prohibition  candidate,  Silas  Swallow,  had  260,000  votes. 

The  population  was  growing  and  the  country  was  very 
prosperous.  Even  the  loss  of  $400,000,000  worth  of  property 
in  a  great  fire  at  San  Francisco  following  an  earthquake  (April 
1 8,  1906)  did  not  check  the  general  growth  of  business.  In 
spite  of  the  laws  regulating  railroads  (§  350)  it  was  found  hard 
to  secure  convictions  of  railroads  or  their  officials  for  the  giving 
of  special  rates,  or  rebates  from  the  regular  rates,  to  favored 
shippers.  The  President,  therefore,  urged  upon  Congress  an 
act  which  was  finally  passed  (June  29,  1906)  as  the  "  Hepburn 
Act,"  bestowing  larger  powers  on  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  increasing  the  number  of  commissioners  to  seven, 
fixing  new  penalties  for  the  offense  of  allowing  special  rates  to 
anybody,  and  abolishing  free  passes  —  all  applying  of  course 
only  to  interstate  or  foreign  traffic. 

One  of  the  most  important  lines  of  business  in  the  country 
was  the  preparation  of  food  products  on  a  large  scale,  including 
enormous  quantities  of  tinned  meats,  fruits,  and  vegetables. 
Some  states  passed  laws  for  inspecting  meats,  and  a  popular 
novelist  roused  the  whole  country  by  describing  in  lurid  fashion 
the  dirt  and  carelessness  in  certain  packing  houses  where  dressed 
meats  were  put  up.  The  result  of  this  popular  interest  was  an 
act  of  Congress  (June  30,  1906),  which  was  based  on  the  right 
of  Congress  "to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
among  the  several  states."  By  this  statute  all  manufacturers 
of  meat  products  must  have  their  products  inspected  and 
marked  by  federal  officials,  in  case  they  were  intended  for  ship- 
ment outside  the  state.  Akin  to  this  act  was  the  Pure  Food 
Act  of  the  same  date,  which  forbade  the  carrying  of  food  prod- 
ucts, drugs,  liquors,  etc.  from  one  state  to  another  unless  they 
bore  labels  showing  their  real  nature  and  the  proportion  of  alco- 
hol or  narcotics.  Many  states  passed  similar  pure  food  laws 
for  intrastate  business.  These  acts  showed  that  both  national 
and  state  governments  were  infused  with  a  new  idea  of  what 


World  Politics  607 

ought  to  be  done  for  the  health  and  safety  of  the  people.  They 
showed  also  that  Congress,  through  its  power  over  interstate 
commerce,  could  bring  about  a  fairly  uniform  system  in  such 
matters  as  pure  food  products. 

381.   WORLD  POLITICS  (1905-1909) 

Ever  since  the  Spanish  War  the  people  of  the  United  States 
felt  that  they  had  a  place  as  a  great  power,  which  ought  to 
share  in  settling  the  world  questions  of  the  time.  An  evidence 
of  the  respect  felt  for  this  country  by  foreign  nations  was  the 
agreement  of  Russia  and  Japan,  after  a  year's  warfare  in 
Korea  and  Manchuria,  to  accept  President  Roosevelt's  sug- 
gestion that  they  attempt  to  make  peace  on  American  soil. 
The  result  was  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  (September,  1905), 
which  ended  the  war. 

In  1906  the  United  States  sent  a  diplomatic  representative 
to  the  conference  of  Algeciras  (Spain),  which  was  held  to  de- 
cide whether  France  and  England  were  willing  that  Germany 
should  secure  a  foothold  in  Morocco.  The  weight  of  American 
influence  was  thrown  toward  a  peaceful  settlement,  and  a  con- 
vention was  negotiated  in  which,  however,  the  German  hopes 
were  not  realized.  That  failure  to  gain  what  the  Germans 
felt  to  be  a  national  ambition  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  Great 
War  of  1914. 

Nearer  home,  the  United  States  took  a  more  direct  and  im- 
portant part  in  several  international  affairs.  Trouble  arose  in 
1902  over  the  relations  between  Venezuela  on  one  side  and 
Germany,  Great  Britain,  and  Italy  on  the  other.  Subjects  of 
these  three  powers  had  claims  against  the  Venezuelan  govern- 
ment for  destruction  of  property,  or  personal  injuries.  Since 
they  could  get  no  satisfaction  in  any  other  way,  the  three  govern- 
ments gave  notice  that  they  would  send  fleets  to  collect  the  bill. 
This  was  very  unwelcome  to  the  United  States,  and  President 
Roosevelt  insisted  that  Germany  give  a  pledge  not  to  land  on 
Venezuelan  soil.  The  fleets,  therefore,  did  nothing  but  blockade 


608  Broadening  of  the  Government 

harbors  and  capture  a  few  coasters.  Venezuela  gave  way  so 
far  as  to  consent  to  arbitrate  the  claims  before  the  Hague 
Court  which  had  been  set  up  by  the  peace  conference  of  1899 

(§  365). 

The  Cuban  government  established  in  1902  (§  363)  continued 
after  the  departure  of  the  American  troops,  till  in  1906  a  revolu- 
tion broke  out.  The  regular  government  under  President  Palma 
could  not  protect  itself,  and  the  only  way  to  keep  order  was 
for  the  United  States,  acting  under  the  Platt  Amendment, 
to  take  control  of  the  country  for  a  time.  A  provisional  gover- 
nor, Magoon,  was  appointed  from  Washington,  and  acted  till 
it  was  announced  that  an  orderly  government  was  again  in 
force,  whereupon  the  United  States  troops  for  the  second  time 
withdrew  (1909). 

The  naval  power  of  the  United  States  was  made  prominent  by 
a  voyage  of  sixteen  battleships  and  some  smaller  vessels  around 
the  world  (1907-1909)  —  the  first  voyage  of  the  kind  ever 
made  by  so  powerful  a  fleet.  On  the  other  hand  the  delegates 
of  the  United  States  to  the  second  Hague  Conference  (1907) 
took  a  strong  position  for  peace  and  aided  in  framing  and  ap- 
proving several  conventions  which  it  was  hoped  would  prevent 
wars  from  breaking  out  and  would  take  away  much  of  their 
horror  if  they  did  occur.  In  this  meeting,  as  in  that  of  1899, 
the  American  representatives  secured  a  statement  that  noth- 
ing in  the  conventions  should  be  taken  to  affect  the  "traditional 
policy  of  the  United  States";  and  that  phrase  was  understood 
to  mean  the  Monroe  Doctrine  (§  193). 

382.  APPLYING  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  (1902-1913) 

The  Venezuelan  difficulty  is  closely  connected  with  the  objec- 
tions of  the  United  States  to  foreign  influence  in  America,  to 
which  the  name  Monroe  Doctrine  is  usually  applied.  The 
affair  brought  out  that  it  was  very  inconvenient  and  undesirable 
for  foreign  fleets  to  use  force  in  American  waters.  On  the 
other  hand,  what  was  to  be  done  when  some  weak  American 


Applying  the  Monroe  Doctrine  6oq 

powers  failed  to  protect  foreigners  resident  in  their  borders 
and  declined  to  pay  damages  if  they  were  ill  treated  ?  Was  there 
any  effective  remedy  except  to  occupy  their  territory? 

When  in  190$  there  was  another  of  the  many  political  up- 
heavals in  the  republic  of  Santo  Domingo,  the  administration 
at  Washington  was  sure  that  some  European  power  was  about 
to  interfere  in  behalf  of  its  citizens.  President  Roosevelt  made 
up  his  mind  that  the  only  way  to  prevent  trouble  was  for  the 
United  States  to  step  in,  restore  order,  and  guarantee  the  pay- 
ment of  just  debts.  He  therefore  landed  a  force,  made  a  treaty 
with  the  men  who  happened  to  be  in  control  of  the  little  re- 
public, and  put  an  American  official  into  the  customhouse  to 
collect  the  money  and  take  out  enough  to  pay  the  interest  on 
the  debt  of  Santo  Domingo  and  eventually  to  pay  the  principal. 
After  a  long  delay  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ratified  the 
treaty  and  thus  gave  its  approval  to  this  method  of  dealing 
with  Latin  American  states.  Since  Panama  and  Cuba  were 
practically  no  longer  sovereign,  but  protectorates  of  the 
United  States,  the  United  States  then  had  three  dependencies 
besides  Porto  Rico  arid  the  Philippine  Islands.  President 
Roosevelt  stated  this  new  form  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in 
several  messages  and  speeches.  He  virtually  promised  Europe 
that  the  United  States  would  undertake  to  set  to  rights  any 
American  power  against  which  there  were  just  grievances. 
Such  a  course  would  make  it  unnecessary  for  European  powers 
to  intervene.  This  is  the  policy  of  "the  international  police- 
man" or  "the  big  stick."  The  same  policy  was  followed  out 
in  the  next  administration  by  President  Taf t,  who  negotiated  a 
treaty  with  Nicaragua  similar  to  that  with  Santo  Domingo. 

The  Panama  Canal  had  a  close  connection  with  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  since  it  would  be  a  new  bond  of  communication  and 
influence  with  the  Central  American  and  South  American 
states.  For  some  time  the  construction  lagged,  because  the 
American  engineers  had  to  contend  with  the  dreadful  unhealth- 
fulness  of  the  isthmus.  Fortunately,  skilled  American  medical 


6io  Broadening  of  the  Government 

men  in  Cuba  had  discovered  that  yellow  fever  is  carried  by  a 
mosquito,  and  it  was  already  known  that  malaria  is  carried 
by  another  mosquito.  Acting  on  this  knowledge,  Colonel 
Gorgas  was  put  in  charge  of  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the 
working  force.  On  his  recommendation,  all  the  underbrush 
was  cut  along  the  line  of  the  canal,  for  about  half  a  mile  back 
on  each  side,  and  a  pure  water  supply  was  introduced.  The 
result  was  that  the  engineers  and  laborers  on  the  canal  were  as 
free  from  disease  as  anybody  else  in  the  world.  In  1907  Major 
George  W.  Goethals  of  the  United  States  army  was  made  chief 
engineer  of  the  canal ;  and  under  the  management  of  army 
officers  the  work  was  carried  on  rapidly.  The  original  plan  of 
a  sea  level  canal  from  ocean  to  ocean  was  changed  to  a  lock 
canal,  with  a  great  central  lake. 

383.   CONSERVATION  (1909-1913) 

For  many  years  it  had  been  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
government  to  get  rid  of  the  public  lands  as  fast  as  possible. 
The  old  Preemption  Act  of  1841  (§  239)  was  repealed,  but  under 
the  Homestead  Act  of  1862,  great  quantities  of  land  went  directly 
into  the  hands  of  farmers.  The  land  grants  to  the  railroads 
and  to  the  states,  besides  tracts  supposed  to  be  unfit  for  farm- 
ing, passed  into  the  hands  of  capitalists.  By  1901  there  was 
very  little  government  land  left  that  was  available  for  farm- 
ing, though  Uncle  Sam  still  owned  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
square  miles  of  desert  and  mountain  and  forested  areas.  Much 
of  this  land  was  valuable  for  its  timber,  its  coal  and  other  min- 
erals, its  oil  and  its  water  powers,  which  became  useful  through 
the  invention  of  systems  for  transmitting  electric  power  to  long 
distances. 

The  idea  naturally  sprang  up  that  these  advantages  ought 
not  to  be  allowed  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  speculators  or  even 
investors;  that  they  were  immense  bounties  of  nature  which 
somehow  ought  to  be  saved  for  the  public  benefit.  The  sys- 
tem of  saving  them  came  to  be  called  "  conservation." 


Conservation 


611 


(i)  Forests.  To  preserve  the  forests,  the  government  adopted 
the  method  of  "forest  reserves"  (beginning  in  1891).  Large 
areas  which  either  bore  trees  or  were  probably  capable  of 
bearing  trees,  were  taken  out  of  the  land  available  for  settle- 
ment and  kept  as  permanent  public  tracts.  A  system  of  for- 
estry was  developed  which  kept  down  fires,  prevented  the  cut- 
ting of  timber  without  leave  from  the  government,  and  began 
to  reforest  areas  that  needed  it.  A  main  argument  for  these 
reserves  was  that  the  forests  held  heavy  rains  and  thus  pro- 


NATIONAL  FORESTS  AND  PARKS. 

tected  the  sources  of  navigable  rivers  and  prevented  floods.  This 
argument  was  applied  to  the  Appalachian  mountain  ranges 
in  1911,  when  Congress  appropriated  $6,000,000  to  buy  for- 
est lands  in  that  region;  by  1915,  1,285,000  acres  were  thus 
acquired,  principally  in  the  White  Mountains  and  southern 
mountains. 

(2)  Minerals.  The  government  had  a  system  of  selling  ledges 
containing  valuable  ore  to  those  who  could  mine  them,  usually 
in  very  small  tracts.  If  land  was  sold  as  farm  land,  timber 
land,  or  for  any  other  purpose,  and  coal  or  any  other  minerals 


612  Broadening  of  the  Government 

were  subsequently  discovered,  those  riches  belonged  to  the 
owner  of  the  soil.  Sharp  speculators  would  locate  many  blocks 
of  land  through  employees  or  dummies,  and  thus  hold  large 
tracts  for  the  sake  of  the  minerals  they  contained.  In  1910, 
Congress  passed  an  act  by  which  farm  lands  could  be  sold,  re- 
serving as  government  property  the  coal  and  other  minerals 
beneath  the  surface.  Great  pains  were  taken  to  prevent  the 
coal  deposits  in  Alaska  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  private 
owners. 

(3)  Water  powers.     It  had  been  the  practice  all  over  the 
Union  for  the  man  who  could  buy  or  homestead  a  waterfront, 

to  take  possession 
of  the  water  powers 
that  might  exist 
there.  In  1910  the 
government  took 
the  precaution  to 
reserve  a  large 
number  of  water 
powers  on  the  pub- 
lic domain  until 
some  general  law 
should  be  passed, 
by  which  they 
could  be  kept  as 
government  prop- 
erty, and  could  be 


WESTERN  IRRIGATION  PROJECTS. 

leased  to  those  who  were  best  able  to  develop  them. 

(4)  Irrigation.  In  parts  of  the  West  and  far  West,  some 
lands  could  be  made  rich  and  productive  by  bringing  irrigation 
water  to  them.  Many  such  privileges  were  taken  up  by  in- 
dividuals or  land  companies.  By  the  Newlands  Act  (1902), 
Congress  adopted  the  policy  of  spending  whatever  money  was 
received  for  public  lands  in  certain  states,  for  the  building  of 
irrigation  works.  The  land  served  by  these  new  systems  was 


President  Taft  613 

to  be  sold  in  small  tracts,  at  prices  which  were  intended  to 
pay  for  the  works.  This  policy  required  the  government  to 
hold  the  stretches  of  the  mountain  streams  necessary  for  filling 
the  reservoirs,  and  to  use  the  water  power  drained  from  these 
dams. 

384.   PRESIDENT  TAFT  (1909-1913) 

Few  of  the  questions  agitated  during  the  two  terms  of  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt  (1901-1909)  divided  Congress  on  party  lines. 
Public  sentiment  called  for  such  measures  as  the  Pure  Food 
Act  and  acts  for  regulating  railroads  and  other  corporations, 
and  the  only  question  was  how  far-reaching  they  should  be. 
The  President  looked  upon  himself  as  the  representative  of 
the  people  at  large  (§  378)  and  he  had  the  habit  of  writing 
messages  to  Congress  and  expressing  his  mind  in  conversa- 
tions, upon  what  he  considered  to  be  the  duty  of  Congress. 
In  numerous  instances  he  thus  compelled  Congress  to  follow 
his  lead.  Many  people  believed  that  Roosevelt  could  have 
been  reflected  in  1908,  but  he  made  no  effort  to  secure  a  third 
term,  and  threw  his  influence  in  favor  of  William  H.  Taft,  then 
Secretary  of  War. 

In  the  campaign  (1908)  there  were  no  very  distinct  party  issues. 
The  currency  issue  had  faded  out.  As  for  the  tariff,  both  of 
the  great  parties  favored  a  revision  of  the  Dingley  tariff  of 
J&97  (§  361),  against  which  there  was  rising  opposition  in 
the  West.  William  J.  Bryan  was  for  the  third  time  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate,  and  carried  the  "solid  South"  and  four 
western  states,  with  a  total  of  162  electoral  votes.  Taft  re- 
ceived 321  electoral  votes  and  a  plurality  of  1,270,000  popular 
votes.  The  Socialist  vote  rose  to  420,000  and  the  Prohibition 
vote  was  250,000. 

William  H.  Taft  was  a  man  of  wide  and  varied  experience. 
He  served  the  public,  first  as  judge  of  a  United  States  court  in 
Ohio;  then  as  Governor  General  of  the  Philippines,  where  he 
had  a  large  part  in  framing  the  successful  insular  government 


6i4 


Broadening  of  the  Government 


(§  362) ;  then  as  Secretary  of  War,  where  he  was  still  in  charge 
of  the  Philippine  administration.  As  President  he  carried  out 

many  of  the  policies 
of  previous  Presidents, 
particularly  the  regu- 
lation of  corporations 
and  transportation  and 
the  reform  of  the  fed- 
eral service. 

President  Taft  at 
once  after  his  inaugu- 
ration summoned  Con- 
gress to  meet  in  special 
session  for  the  purpose 
of  revising  the  tariff. 
The  members  of  his 
party  disagreed  as  to 
whether  the  promise 
to  revise  meant  to 
"revise  downward." 
WILLIAM  H.  TAFT.  Eventually  a  meas- 

ure called  the  Payne- 

Aldrich  tariff  was  passed  (1909) ;  it  reduced  some  duties  and 
somewhat  increased  others,  especially  on  cotton  goods.  Presi- 
dent Taft  signed  the  measure  and  afterwards  presented  it  as 
"  the  best  tariff  bill  that  has  been  passed."  To  make  up  for  any 
possible  loss  of  revenue,  Congress  added  to  the  bill  a  tax  of  one  per 
cent  on  the  net  earnings  of  corporations  having  a  net  income 
above  $5000  a  year.  This  tightened  the  hold  of  the  adminis- 
tration on  corporations,  because  they  were  obliged  to  make  state- 
ments of  their  transactions  to  serve  as  the  basis  for  the  tax. 

385.    PROGRESSIVE  REPUBLICAN  MOVEMENT  (1910-1912) 

Though  the  Republican  party  seemed  firmly  seated  in  the 
national  government,  serious  differences  of  opinion  arose  in 


Progressive  Republican  Movement          615 

several  states  and  made  their  appearance  in  Congress.  Some 
of  the  Republicans  were  greatly  disappointed  by  the  Payne- 
Aldrich  tariff.  Others  were  angered  by  what  they  thought  to 
be  high-handed  methods  of  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  who  since  1903 
had  been  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  They  ac- 
cused him  of  refusing  to  grant  committee  appointments  and 
other  favors  to  Republican  members  who  did  not  agree  with 
him.  Another  group  of  dissatisfied  Republicans  was  headed 
by  Robert  LaFollette  of  Wisconsin,  who  had  defied  and  finally 
beaten  the  old-time  heads  of  the  party  in  his  state ;  after  being 
governor  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  (1910), 
and  there  he  defied  the  traditions  of  that  august  body. 

The  members  of  Congress  who  joined  in  this  movement,  which 
grew  to  be  a  revolt,  were  called  by  their  enemies  "insurgents," 
but  they  called  themselves  "Progressives"  or  "Progressive 
Republicans."  The  regular  Republicans,  who  had  control  of 
the  national  committee  and  of  most  of  the  state  committees 
of  the  party,  were  called  "Standpatters."  In  March,  1910, 
about  forty  insurgents  joined  with  the  Democrats  in  voting  to 
take  away  some  of  the  most  important  powers  of  the  Speaker. 
Other  Standpatters  lost  their  seats  in  Congress  or  declined  to 
stand  for  reelection. 

In  1911,  a  struggle  arose  over  an  act  of  Congress  offering  fav- 
orable trade  to  Canada.  President  Taft  favored  it  and  pushed 
it  through  Congress,  but  the  Canadians  refused  to  accept  it. 
A  special  Tariff  Commission  was  appointed,  to  find  out  if 
possible  the  difference  of  cost  in  making  goods  in  the  United 
States,  as  against  that  of  other  countries.  It  reported  in  favor 
of  the  lowering  of  certain  wool  duties ;  but  the  President  vetoed 
the  bills  on  that  subject  passed  by  Congress. 

Taft  urged  the  strengthening  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission ;  and,  following  his  lead,  Congress  gave  the  com- 
mission larger  powers  and  placed  the  Pullman  car  service  and 
the  private  express  companies  under  its  authority  to  investi- 
gate and  alter  rates  (June  18, 1910).  The  President  also  set  on 


616  Broadening  of  the  Government 

foot  prosecutions  of  some  of  the  largest  corporations,  on  the 
charge  that  they  were  not  observing  the  Sherman  Antitrust  Act. 
This  resulted  in  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  (1912)  against 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  American  Tobacco  Company. 
Both  were  held  to  be  guilty  of  "restraint  of  trade  and  monopo- 
lization," by  their  practical  control  of  two  great  lines  of  busi- 
ness. They  were  ordered  to  break  up  the  holding  companies 
into  which  they  were  divided,  after  which  they  might  continue 
their  regular  business  under  their  former  charters.  The  deci- 
sion included  the  "rule  of  reason";  that  is,  the  Court  said 
that  it  was  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Sherman  Act  of 
1890  applied  to  corporations  which  did  not  set  up  a  monopoly 
dangerous  to  the  public  interests. 

The  administration  of  President  Taft  thus  followed  in  the 
same  line  as  that  of  President  Roosevelt,  in  pressing  steadily 
for  stronger  acts  of  Congress  against  fraud  and  monopoly  in 
'business;  in  inviting  Congress  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the 
courts  and  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  so  as  to  regu- 
late business  and  especially  corporations;  and  in  urging  suits 
before  the  Supreme  Court  intended  to  compel  corporations  to 
live  up  to  the  laws  as  understood  by  the  federal  government. 

386.  REVIEW 

When  Theodore  Roosevelt  became  President  of  the  United 
States  in  1901,  the  country  was  ready  for  novelties  in  govern- 
ment, foreign  policy,  and  economic  organization.  The  President 
placed  many  more  federal  employees  in  the  classified  service. 
He  urged  Congress  to  improve  the  consular  service,  and  mediated 
a  coal  strike  in  Pennsylvania.  He  successfully  pushed  a  suit 
against  railroad  consolidation,  and  began  to  investigate  cor- 
porations. 

On  the  Isthmian  Canal  an  official  commission  reported  (1900) 
that  the  United  States  ought  to  control  such  a  canal.  Great 
Britain  gave  up  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of  1850  and  the 
United  States  was  left  free  to  act.  A  treaty  was  negotiated 


References  617 

with  Colombia  for  a  canal  through  Panama;  but  the  Colom- 
bian Congress  refused  to  ratify.  A  Republic  of  Panama,  set 
up  by  revolution,  agreed  to  a  canal  treaty. 

In  1904,  Roosevelt  was  reelected,  over  Judge  Parker  of  New 
York,  the  Democratic  candidate.  Congress  passed  several 
new  acts  enabling  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to 
deal  more  effectively  with  the  railroads,  and  providing  for 
sanitary  meat  packing  and  pure  food  and  drugs. 

In  1902,  President  Roosevelt  objected  to  foreign  powers 
taking  any  territory  of  Venezuela.  The  United  States  acted 
as  a  kind  of  mediator  between  Japan  and  Russia  in  1905.  The 
conditions  in  Cuba  led  to  an  occupation  of  that  republic  (1906- 
1909).  The  United  States  was  active  in  the  Second  Hague 
Conference  of  1907,  and  advanced  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to 
new  applications.  Panama  and  Santo  Domingo  practically 
became  dependencies. 

Under  a  new  policy  of  conservation,  the  government  set  up 
forest  reserves,  held  back  part  of  the  minerals  under  the  surface 
of  farming  lands,  held  up  water  powers,  and  provided  for  irriga- 
tion on  a  large  scale. 

William  H.  Taft  was  urged  as  Roosevelt's  successor,  and  he 
was  elected  in  1908  by  the  Republicans,  over  W.  J.  Bryan,  the 
Democratic  candidate.  He  continued  the  policy  of  regulation 
of  transportation  and  corporations.  He  approved  of  the  Payne- 
Aldrich  tariff  of  1909.  "Progressive  Republicans"  arose  who 
opposed  the  "Standpatters."  The  powers  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  were  still  further  advanced. 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  maps,  pp.  611,  612.  —  Bogart,  Econ. 
Hist.,  371,  490,  511.  —  Coman,  Indust.  Hist.,  350,  384,  388,  394,  404.  — 
Hart,  Am.  Ideals,  46,  240,  264.  — LatanS,  Am.  as  a  World  Power,  200, 
210,  274.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,  77 f  120,  153. 

Secondary.  Bassett,  U.S.,  817-822,  825-843,  849-852.  —  Beard, 
Contemp.  Am.  Hist.,  chs.  ix-xii.  —  Bogart,  Econ.  Hist.,  chs.  xxxii, 
xxxiii.  —  Coolidge,  U.  S.  as  a  World  Power,  chs.  x-xvi.  —  Coman, 
HART'S  NKW  AMER.  HIST.  —  38 


618  Broadening  of  the  Government 

Indnst.  Hist.,  ch.  xi.  —  De  Witt,  Progressive  Movement,  pts.  i,  ii.  — 
Duncan-Clark,  Progressive  Movement.  —  Edwards,  Panama,  chs.  xxix- 
xxxiv.  —  Fish,  Am.  Dipt.,  429-453  ;  Am.  Nationality,  496-514,  517-531. 

—  Hart,    Monroe   Doctrine,    214-242.  —  Haworth,    Reconstruction   and 
Union,  ch.  ix.  —  Johnson,   Panama   Canal,    chs.    viii-xviii.  —  Latane, 
Am.  as  a  World  Power,  chs.  xi-xvi,  xviii.  —  Laughlin,  Indust.  America. 

—  Paxson,    New    Nation,    283-335.  —  Thayer,    John    Hay,    II,    chs. 
xxviii-xxxi.  —  Van    Hise,    Conservation.  —  Washburn,    Roosevelt,    chs. 
ii,  iii,    v. 

Sources.  Am.  Year  Book,  1910  to  1912. — Beard,  Readings, 
§§  105,  149-153.  —  Bogart  and  Thompson,  Readings,  598-853  passim. 

—  Foraker,  Notes   of  a   Busy  Life,  II,  chs.  xxxv-xlviii.  —  International 
Year  Book,  1907  to  1912.  — James,  Readings,  §§  101,  102,  104.  — Orth, 
Readings.  —  Roosevelt,  Autobiography,  chs.  x-xv. 

Illustrative.     Dillon,  The  Leader.  —  Gale,  Friendship  Village  (Middle 
West) .  —  Grant,  Chippendales.  —  Hurt,  Scarlet  Shadow  (labor). 
Pictures.     Mentor,  serial  no.  15.  — See  alsr)  references  to  ch.  xxxiii. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Theodore  Roosevelt  as  a  boy  and  young  man.  [§  377]  —  (2)  Public 
services  of  one  of  the  following  public  men :  Roosevelt;  Root  [§378]; 
Parker;  Debs  [§  380];  Cannon;  LaFollette.  [§  385]  —  (3)  Formation 
of  the  republic  of  Panama.  [§  379]  —  (4)  The  Canal  Zone.  [§  379]  — 
(5)  Election  of  1904  [§  380],  or,  of  1908.  [§  384]  —  (6)  San  Francisco  fire. 
[§  380]  —  (7)  Occupation  of  Santo  Domingo,  1906.  [§  382]  —  (8)  Con- 
struction of  the  Panama  Canal.  [§  382]  —  (9)  Forest  reserves  in  the 
East.  [§  383]  —  (10)  Debates  on  the  Payne-Aldrich  tariff.  [§  384] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(ii)  What  is  the  "classified  service"?  [§  378]  —  (12)  Anthracite 
strike  and  settlement.  [§  378]  —  (13)  French  Panama  Canal  Company. 
[§379]  — (14)  What  is  the  need  of  pure  food  laws?  [§  380]— 
(15)  Blockade  of  the  Venezuelan  ports.  [§  381]  —  (16)  Second  Hague 
Peace  Conference.  [§  381]  —  (17)  Effects  of  the  Newlands  Act.  [§  383] 

—  (18)  Proposed  reciprocity  with  Canada.  [§  385] 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE  UNITED   STATES  AS  A   WORLD   POWER    (1912-1917) 
387.   POLITICAL  METHODS 

BEHIND  the  controversies  in  Congress,  the  White  House,  and 
the  Supreme  Court,  behind  the  Progressive  movement,  was 
a  feeling  of  unrest  which  showed  itself  all  over  the  country. 
The  great  political  parties  were  managed  by  small  groups  of 
men,  some  of  them  holding  state  or  national  office,  others  without 
any  official  connection  with  the  government.  In  some  states, 
notably  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  single  "bosses"  practically 
nominated  the  candidates,  dictated  the  platforms,  and  made  the 
appointments  to  office.  In  others,  railroads  and  public  service 
corporations  were  in  alliance  with  bosses  and  saw  to  it  that  no- 
body was  nominated  to  any  important  office  who  was  unfavor- 
able to  them.  The  principal  difficulties  of  the  political  system 
were  the  following : 

(1)  Nomination  of  candidates  by  local  and  state  conventions, 
sometimes  under  the  absolute  control  of  a  single  man.     This 
led  to  the  so-called  "direct  primary,"  beginning  in  Wisconsin 
in  1903.     By  this  system  the  members  of  each  party  vote  at 
special  elections  conducted  by  the  state  authorities,  for  the  per- 
son whom  they  desire  to  see  nominated  for  a  particular  office. 
The  man  who  receives  the  most  votes  on  his  party  ticket  is 
then  entered  on  the  ballot  as  the  only  candidate  of  his  party 
at  the  regular  election.     This  reform  applies  especially  to  state 
and  local  officers,  but  in  some  states   the  members  of  each 
party  can  vote  on  the  selection  of  candidates  for  President. 

(2)  Lack  of  responsibility  of  members  of  the  legislature.     In 
some  states,  bosses  or  corporations  could  control  a  majority 

619 


620        The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

of  the  state  legislature,  and  could  thus  secure  acts  against 
which  there  was  strong  popular  sentiment.  A  system  of  "ref- 
erendum " —  that  is,  appeal  to  the  popular  vote  —  had  been 
familiar  for  many  years  in  votes  on  state  constitutions,  on  the 
issuing  of  liquor  licenses,  and  other  matters.  In  several  states 
it  was  now  applied  to  any  legislative  acts,  on  petition  of  a  certain 
number  of  votes.  To  meet  the  case  of  a  legislature  which  will 
not  pass  measures  that  it  is  supposed  the  electorate  wants, 
the  "initiative"  was  contrived,  by  which  a  certain  number  of 
voters  can  place  on  the  ballot  the  text  of  a  statute  which  they 
desire  and  have  that  voted  upon  without  referring  it  to  the 
legislature  at  all. 

(3)  Weak  city  governments.     Many  of  the  city  governments 
were  clumsy  and  weak.     Hence  a  movement  to  simplify  and 
strengthen  them  began  at  Galveston,  Texas,  in  1901.     Under 
this  "commission"  plan,  the  whole  government  of  a  city  is 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  commissioners,  usually  five, 
who  act  both  as  a  city  council  to  make  ordinances  and  as  an 
executive  board  to  carry  them  out.     This  puts  all  the  affairs 
of  the  city  in  the  control  of  a  few  persons,  who  presumably  are 
known  to  the  electors. 

(4)  Campaign    expenses.      Though    the    expense    of    print- 
ing ballots  and  holding  elections  was  borne  by  the  states,  large 
sums  were  raised  and  spent  by  candidates  and  party  committees. 
Most  of  the  money  went  for  public  meetings,  bands,  speakers, 
and  "getting  out  the  vote."    Some  was  used  for  bribing  voters. 
To  meet  this  evil,  laws  were  passed  by  most  states  and  by 
Congress  limiting  the  amounts  that  might  be  spent  and  com- 
pelling managers  to  file  statements  of  their  accounts. 

(5)  Irresponsibility  of  officers.     Sometimes  mayors,  members 
of    commissions,  governors,  or  other  officers   performed  acts 
which    their    constituents    did    not    wish.     Therefore,    several 
states,  beginning  with  California,  now  allow  a  certain  number 
of  voters  to  place  upon  the  ballot  the  question  whether  a  par- 
ticular official  shall  be  "  recalled  "  —  that  is,  deprived  of  his 


Presidential  Election  of  1912  621 

office  —  so  that  some  one  may  be  elected  who  does  represent 
the  majority.     In  a  few  states,  judges- can  be  recalled. 

None  of  the  new  methods  of  government  have  worked  per- 
fectly. The  direct  primary  brings  forward  many  small  men  as 
candidates,  and  public  men  miss  the  advantage  of  personal 
acquaintance  through  conventions.  The  initiative  and  refer- 
endum lead  to  putting  so  many  different  propositions  on  the 
ballot  that  it  is  hard  to  secure  the  voters'  attention.  Com- 
mission government  proved  so  popular  that  by  1916  there  were 
about  400  cities  and  villages  in  which  it  was  established ;  and  a 
still  more  concentrated  plan  of  "city  manager"  was  devised, 
by  which  the  greater  part  of  the  government  of  a  city  may  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  single  man,  selected  for  his  skill  in  city 
government.  Publicity  of  campaign  expenses  has  been  avoided 
in  many  cases  by  tricks  and  evasion.  The  recall  works  irregu- 
larly and  there  is  some  danger  that  judges  may  be  recalled 
simply  because  they  make  decisions  according  to  their  con- 
victions. Long  experience  has  shown  that  no  political  method 
will  do  much  good,  unless  the  voters  take  an  interest  in  their 
own  public  affairs. 

388.   PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF  1912 

In  general,  the  Progressive  Republicans  in  Congress  and  in 
the  states  supported  these  new  ideas  in  government  and  also 
more  stringent  regulation  of  railroads  and  other  corporations 
(§  378)-  They  brought  their  views  to  a  test  in  the  Repub- 
lican national  convention  of  June,  1912,  where  President  Taft 
had  the  support  of  most  of  the  Standpat  party  leaders  for 
renomination,  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  candidate  of 
the  Progressive  Republicans. 

Many  rival  sets  of  Taft  delegates  and  Roosevelt  delegates 
appeared,  claiming  to  be  the  properly  elected  representatives 
of  the  same  districts.  Most  of  these  contests  were  settled  in 
favor  of  the  Taft  men,  who  proved  to  have  a  majority  in  the 
convention  and  renominated  their  candidate.  The  supporters  of 


622       The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

Roosevelt  insisted  that  their  man  had  been  deprived  of  votes  that 
justly  belonged  to  him,  and  called  another  convention,  which 
adopted  the  name  of  Progressive  party,  nominated  Roosevelt, 
and  drew  up  a  platform  calling  for  social  and  political  reforms. 

The  Democratic  convention  had  before  it  as  candidates 
Champ  Clark  of  Missouri,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  Woodrow  Wilson,  then  governor  of  New  Jersey. 
After  seven  days  and  forty-six  ballots,  the  deadlock  between 
these  candidates  was  broken  by  the  choice  of  Woodrow  Wilson, 
chiefly  through  the  influence  of  William  J.  Bryan,  who  had  great 
power  in  the  convention. 

The  resulting  election  was  the  most  exciting  for  many  years. 
Taft  received  about  3,500,000  popular  votes,  and  8  electoral 
votes;  Roosevelt  received  4,120,000  popular  votes  and  88 
electoral  votes;  Wilson  received  6,300,000  popular  votes,  and 
435  electoral  votes,  and  was  elected.  Both  branches  of  the 
Congress  which  would  sit  from  1913  to  1915  showed  Democratic 
majorities. 

389.  PRESIDENT  WOODROW  WILSON  (.1913-1917) 

President  Wilson,  in  his  speeches  during  the  campaign,  set 
forth  ideas  of  government  which  were  very  close  to  those  of  the 
Progressive  party.  He  scored  the  bosses,  protested  against  the 
usual  methods  of  state  legislation,  and  declared  that  the  trusts 
"are  so  great  that  it  is  almost  an  open  question  whether  the 
government  of  the  United  States  can  dominate  them  or  not."  In 
selecting  his  Cabinet,  he  made  Bryan  Secretary  of  State  as  being, 
next  to  the  President,  the  most  distinguished  member  of  the  party. 

Woodrow  Wilson  was  born  at  Staunton,  Virginia,  in  1856, 
the  son  of  a  southern  family.  He  was  educated  at  Princeton 
and  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  practiced  law  a  short  time, 
and  became  a  professor  of  history  at  several  colleges.  He 
vwas  one  of  the  first  writers  to  point  out  the  weakness  of  the 
committee  system  in  Congress.  In  1902  he  became  president 
of  Princeton  University  and  a  recognized  leader  in  education. 


President  Woodrow  Wilson  623 

In  1910  he  was  elected  as  a  Democratic  governor  of  New  Jersey, 
where  he  secured  bills  for  direct  primaries,  a  state  commission 
on  corporations,  and  other  measures  of  a  progressive  kind.  His 
success  in  this  office  led  to  his  nomination  for  President. 

Wilson  had  a  re- 
markable gift  of  vig- 
orous speaking  and 
writing,  was  a  good 
campaigner,  and  his 
messages  and  state 
papers  were  always  to 
the  point.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  members 
of  his  Cabinet  —  now 
ten  in  number  by 
the  separation  of  the 
Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor 
into  two  depart- 
ments (1913)  —  Presi- 
dent Wilson  had  a 
few  confidential  ad- 
visers, something  like 
Roosevelt's  "  Tennis 
Cabinet"  (§  378). 

With     these     excep-  WOODROW  WILSON. 

tions,  he  sought  ad- 
vice from  few  people ;  and  he  made  his  own  decisions.  He 
carried  on  the  methods  of  his  predecessors  in  forcing  the  atten- 
tion of  Congress  to  measures  which  he  thought  necessary,  and 
went  a  little  further  by  going  in  person  to  the  halls  of  Congress 
and  making  addresses  there  —  thus  reviving  the  practice  of 
Presidents  Washington  and  Adams  —  instead  of  sending  in 
written  messages.  He  was  very  successful  in  bringing  his  party 
friends  in  both  houses  to  see  the  force  of  his  ideas. 


624        The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

390.  BANKS,  TARIFF,  AND  CORPORATIONS  (1913-1917) 

The  two  old  questions  of  the  protective  tariff  and  national 
banks,  which  had  been  discussed  for  nearly  a  hundred  years, 
came  straight  to  the  front  again  in  Wilson's  administration. 

(1)  At  once  he  called  Congress  in  special  session,  to  pass  a 
new  tariff,  which  was  introduced  by  Oscar  W.  Underwood  of 
Alabama,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means. 
This  tariff  was  intended  first  of  all  to  produce  revenue,  then  to 
discourage  monopolies.     The  main  manufactures  which   were 
not  monopolistic  received  moderate  protection,  but  the  time 
seemed  to  have  come  for  a  large  export  trade  in  manufactured 
goods,  so  that  less  protection  was  needed.     Most  of  the  Re- 
publicans opposed  the  bill  and  it  was  very  difficult  to  get  the 
Democrats  to  act  together ;    but  this  Underwood  tariff  became 
law  October  3,  1913. 

(2)  Alongside  the  tariff  discussion  went  a  long  debate  on 
the  reorganization  of  the  national  banks,  which  took  the  form 
of  an  immense  central   bank  directed  by  a  Federal  Reserve 
Board,  and  subdivided  into  twelve  regional    Reserve  Banks. 
The  bill  was  signed  December  23,    1913,  and  was  called  the 
Owen-Glass  Federal  Reserve  bill,  from  the  two  Congressmen 
who  steered  it  through  the  Senate  and  the  House. 

The  President  also  urged  new  and  stricter  legislation  against 
the  trusts,  and  with  some  difficulty  induced  Congress  to  pass 
an  act  (September  26,  1914)  for  a  Federal  Trade  Commission. 
The  main  purpose  was  to  prevent  "unfair  methods  of  competi- 
tion in  commerce."  A  few  weeks  later  (October  15)  was  passed 
the  Clayton  Antitrust  Act,  "to  supplement  existing  laws  against 
unlawful  restraints  and  monopolies."  Among  other  things  it 
forbade  any  one  to  sell  goods  on  condition  that  the  purchaser 
should  not  buy  anything  of  other  firms  in  the  same  line ;  and 
prohibited  "holding  companies"  so  far  as  they  tended  to  make  a 
monopoly. 

These  statutes  were  the  high-water  mark  of  an  agitation  that 


Constitutional  Amendments  625 

had  been  going  on  ever  since  the  first  Interstate  Commerce 
Act  of  1887  (§  350).  They  went  about  as  far  as  laws  could 
usefully  go  in  curbing  transportation  companies,  banks,  and 
other  great  corporations.  The  states  also  set  up  public  utility 
commissions,  or  corporation  commissions,  to  deal  with  concerns 
that  were  doing  a  business  within  the  limits  of  one  state  and 
therefore  did  not  come  under  the  regulating  acts  of  Congress. 
This  left  in  many  cases  what  Roosevelt  called  "the  twilight 
zone,"  in  which  neither  the  Union  nor  the  state  had  sufficient 
power.  Still  the  country  began  to  feel  that  enough  laws  had 
been  passed  on  that  subject,  and  that  the  great  corporations, 
and  especially  the  railroads,  were  so  tied  up  that  it  was  hard  for 
them  to  render  good  service. 

391.  CONSTITUTIONAL  AMENDMENTS   (1909-1913) 

An  objection  to  lowering  the  tariff  was  that  the  government 
needed  the  revenue.  To  meet  this  point,  in  1894  the  Wilson 
tariff  act  contained  a  clause  for  taxing  incomes,  but  this 
clause  was  held  void  by  the  Supreme  Court  (§  343).  The  long 
discussion  of  banks  and  corporations  again  called  attention  to 
the  immense  amount  of  interest-bearing  securities  held  in  the 
eastern  states.  Hence  it  became  possible  to  secure  a  two-thirds 
majority  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  in  1909,  for  a  Sixteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  authorizing  Congress  to  lay  an 
income  tax.  It  was  accepted  by  the  necessary  three  fourths  of 
the  states  by  February,  1913.  The  Underwood  tariff  contained 
a  clause  taxing  all  incomes  above  $3000  a  year  (or  $4000  for 
married  couples),  with  higher  rates  for  incomes  above  $20,000. 

A  Seventeenth  Amendment  was  added  in  May,  1913,  which 
transferred  the  election  of  United  States  senators  from  the 
legislatures  to  the  voters  of  each  state,  acting  directly. 

Congress  was  also  strongly  urged  to  adopt  an  amendment 
granting  suffrage  throughout  the  Union  to  women,  but  the  prop- 
osition was  voted  down  in  both  houses.  The  first  territory  or 
state  to  grant  equal  suffrage  to  women  was  Wyoming  in  1869 ; 


626        The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

and  by  1917  constitutional  provisions  gave  them  the  vote  in 
eleven  states,  and  they  also  received  it  by  act  of  the  legisla- 
ture in  Alaska  Territory  and  (for  most  offices)  in  Illinois,  In- 
diana, and  North  Dakota.  Besides  these  states,  about  twenty 
others  gave  some  sort  of  limited  suffrage  to  women. 

Pressure  was  applied  to  Congress  for  a  national  amendment 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  alcoholic  liquors.  In  August,  1917, 
the  liquor  traffic  was  stringently  regulated  by  Congress,  as 
a  war  measure.  t  Down  to  1917  there  were  twenty-three 
states  in  which  this  traffic  was  prohibited,  besides,  many  others 
in  which  cities,  counties,  or  separate  municipalities  might 
refuse  to  grant  a  license  if  the  majority  of  the  voters  so  desired. 

392.   RELATIONS  WITH  MEXICO  (1913-1917) 

When  President  Wilson  came  into  office,  he  found  a  war 
going  on  in  Mexico.  General  Porfirio  Diaz,  who  had  for  about 
thirty  years  been  the  dictator  of  that  country,  was  forced  out  of 
office  by  a  revolution  headed  by  Madero  (1911).  Two  years 
later  President  Madero  was  deposed  and  imprisoned  by  General 
Huerta;  and  then,  while  in  the  custody  of  Huerta's  officials, 
was  murdered  (February,  1913).  Civil  war  was  renewed. 
Thousands  of  Americans  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  American 
property  in  Mexico  sorely  needed  protection  by  somebody. 

President  Wilson  refused  to  recognize  Huerta,  on  the  ground 
that  there  was  no  evidence  that  the  Mexicans  wanted  him  for 
their  president.  Carranza  and  Villa  raised  a  force  of  friends 
of  the  former  Madero  government,  and  after  several  defeats 
Huerta  withdrew  (July,  1914). 

Not  only  Americans  but  many  other  foreigners  were  caught 
in  Mexico,  and  some  of  them  were  murdered  by  Villa  or  by  other 
insurgents  or  bandits.  The  United  States  was  unwilling  that 
any  other  power  should  enter  Mexico,  and  used  its  influence  for 
the  protection  of  all  non-Mexicans  who  were  in  that  country. 
In  April,  1914,  Wilson  thought  it  necessary  to  send  a  military 
expedition  to  Vera  Cruz.  The  troops  remained  several  months 


Policy  of  Dependencies  627 

and  then  withdrew  without  accomplishing  anything  in  particu- 
lar. Meanwhile  Villa  made  war  on  Carranza,  but  was  de- 
feated. After  much  negotiation  with  the  representatives  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  powers  (Argentina,  Brazil,  and  Chile),  Carranza  was 
recognized  in  1915  as  head  of  the  republic  of  Mexico,  although 
parts  of  the  country  were  still  held  by  bandits. 

In  1916,  an  attack  on  the  American  town  of  Columbus,  by 
Villa,  caused  the  government  to  send  a  force  of  about  15,000 
men  under  General  Pershing  into  Mexico  to  hunt  for  the 
bandit.  When  Carranza  protested,  150,000  militia  were  called 
out  and  stationed  on  the  border,  but  a  few  months  later  both 
forces  were  withdrawn  without  reaching  Villa. 

393.     POLICY  OF  DEPENDENCIES 

With  other  Latin- American  countries,  closer  relations  were 
established.  In  1906,  a  Pan-American  Congress  was  held  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  another  in  1910  in  Buenos  Aires ;  and  sug- 
gestions were  made  that  the  time  had  come  for  a  "  Pan-American 
union  "  between  the  United  States  and  the  twenty  neighboring 
republics. 

This  policy  of  union  was  much  disturbed  by  the  attitude  of 
the  United  States  toward  some  of  the  small  and  weak  near-by 
powers.  After  the  withdrawal  of  American  troops  in  1902, 
Cuba  remained  practically  a  dependency  of  the  United  States, 
subject  to  the  Platt  Amendment  (§  363).  Santo  Domingo  (the 
Dominican  Republic)  remained  practically  under  the  direction 
of  the  United  States  after  the  customhouse  was  taken  over  in 
Roosevelt's  administration  (§  382).  Haiti,  was  disturbed  in 
much  the  same  way,  and  in  1915  a  treaty  was  negotiated  by 
which  the  finances  and  the  police  of  that  negro  republic  were 
placed  under  American  control.  With  Nicaragua,  President 
Taft  proposed  a  treaty  very  similar  to  the  arrangement  with 
Cuba  but  including  a  payment  of  $3,000,000  to  the  little  neigh- 
bor. After  much  discussion  the  Haitian  treaty  was  ratified 
in  1916  and  a  new  one  with  Nicaragua  the  same  year.  Inas- 


628       The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

much  as  the  Republic  of  Panama  was  from  its  beginning  subject 
to  the  will  of  the  United  States  government,  five  of  the  twenty 
republican  neighbors  were  practically  not  independent  countries. 

394.    THE  GREAT  WAR  IN  EUROPE  (1914-1916) 

The  most  difficult  problems  of  Wilson's  administration  were 
caused  by  the  terrific  war  which  broke  out  in  Europe  August  i, 
1914.  Though  none  of  the  various  reasons  for  the  war  directly 
affected  the  United  States,  this  country  was  at  once  caught  in 


UNITED  STATES  BATTLESHIPS. 

the  circle  of  hostile  operations.  The  allied  powers — Russia, 
Great  Britain,  France,  later  Japan  and  Italy,  with  Belgium, 
Serbia,  Montenegro,  and  Portugal  —  showed  such  a  superiority 
at  sea,  that  all  the  German  and  Austrian  merchant  ships 
were  driven  from  the  seas  and  some  of  them  took  refuge  in 
our  ports.  In  the  protection  of  these  ships,  and  in  all  other 
details,  our  government  fulfilled  the  duties  of  strict  neutrality. 
The  chief  difficulty  arose  from  our  trade  across  the  ocean. 
The  United  States  claimed  for  its  citizens  the  right  to  trade 
with  any  of  the  powers  that  were  at  war,  just  as  in  times  of 
peace,  except  so  far  as  American  ships  might  be  carrying  con- 


The  Great  War  in  Europe  629 

traband  of  war  or  might  break  an  established  blockade  (§  146). 
Great  Britain  made  new  rules  of  contraband,  including  copper, 
rubber,  iron  ore,  cotton,  and  all  kinds  of  oils ;  and  scores  of 
American  vessels  were  seized  for  carrying  these  goods.  In 
1915  she  declared  what  amounted  to  an  interdict  on  all  com- 
merce to  Germany.  The  Germans  sank  some  of  our  ships  for 
carrying  contraband,  and  sent  out  a  swarm  of  submarines 
with  orders  to  sink  British  merchant  ships  on  sight.  On 
May  7,  1915,  such  a  craft  sank  the  British  merchant  steamer 
Lusitania,  and  about  1200  people  were  drowned,  including  114 
Americans.  By  international  law  these  Americans  had  the 
right  to  take  passage  on  a  British  merchant  ship ;  and  in 
case  the  ship  was  sunk,  were  entitled,  like  all  the  passengers 
and  crew,  to  sufficient  time  and  opportunity  to  save  their  lives. 

In  the  United  States  a  newspaper  warfare  raged  almost 
as  violently  as  that  of  bullets  and  shells  in  Europe.  The 
friends  of  Germany  defended  the  Lusitania  sinking,  as  well  as 
all  other  German  deeds,  and  urged  that  it  was  a  breach  of 
neutrality  for  Americans  to  ship  any  munitions  of  war,  inas- 
much as  none  could  reach  German  ports.  The  friends  of 
Great  Britain,  as  well  as  neutral  Americans,  denied  this  and 
pointed  to  the  fact  that  Germany  had  not  hesitated  in  time 
of  war  to  send  munitions  to  Spain,  the  Balkan  powers,  and 
other  nations. 

The  President  and  Secretary  Bryan  framed  and  sent  a  suc- 
cession of  notes  of  protest,  especially  on  the  Lusitania  matter ; 
but  they  got  little  satisfaction  from  either  belligerent.  Mr. 
Bryan  thought  the  administration  too  firm  in  its  insistence  on 
American  rights,  and  resigned  (June,  1915).  Robert  Lansing 
of  New  York  then  became  Secretary  of  State. 

All  kinds  of  foodstuffs  brought  a  very  high  price,  and  there 
was  a  great  market  for  clothing,  copper,  steel,  machinery,  and 
munitions  of  war.  The  exports  of  the  United  States  jumped 
up  from  $2,365,000,000  in  1913-1914  to  $2,769,000,000  in 
1914-1915,  and  $4,333,000,000  in  1915-1916. 


630       The  United  States  as  a  World  Power 

395.    REVIEW 

For  several  years  the  energy  of  a  large  part  of  the  country 
went  into  the  discussion  of  political  methods.  Many  legislatures 
set  up  a  new  system  of  "direct  primaries"  for  nomination  of 
state  officers.  The  system  of  "initiative"  and  "referendum" 
was  devised,  to  enable  the  people  to  pass  laws  over  the  heads 
of  the  legislature.  Hundreds  of  cities  adopted  "commission 
governments."  Laws  were  passed  regulating  campaign  ex- 
penses. In  a  few  states  the  "recall"  of  public  officials  by  a 
majority  vote  of  the  electors  was  made  legal.  None  of  these 
reforms  worked  as  completely  as  had  been  hoped. 

In  1912,  Taft  was  renominated  by  the  Republicans;  the 
followers  of  Roosevelt  organized  a  separate  Progressive  party. 
Woodrow  Wilson  was  put  up  by  the  Democrats  and  was  elected. 
As  President,  Wilson  followed  the  lead  of  his  predecessors  in 
putting  great  pressure  on  Congress  to  pass  legislation!  He  had 
a  large  influence  in  the  Underwood  tariff  which  became  law; 
in  a  new  Federal  Reserve  Bank  system  (1913) ;  in  the  creation 
of  a  Federal  Trade  Commission  (1914) ;  and  in  an  enlarged 
antitrust  act  (1914). 

By  the  Sixteenth  Amendment  (1913),  it  became  possible  to 
lay  an  income  tax;  by  the  Seventeenth  Amendment  (1913), 
the  election  of  senators  was  to  be  determined  by  popular  vote. 

An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Mexico  in  1910  which  kept  that 
country  in  anarchy.  A  United  States  military  expedition  was 
sent  to  Vera  Cruz  in  1914;  and  another  into  northern  Mexico 
in  pursuit  of  Mexican  bandits  (1916). 

Several  Pan-American  conferences  were  held  between  1901 
and  1915  which  looked  toward  some  sort  of  understanding 
with  the  United  States.  Cuba,  Santo  Domingo,  Haiti,  Panama, 
and  Nicaragua  practically  became  dependencies.  A  fearful 
war  broke  out  in  Europe  in  1914  and  brought  upon  the  United 
States  many  controversies  and  differences  affecting  its  neutral 
trade  and  security. 


References  and  Topics  631 

References  Bearing  on  the  Text  and  Topics 

Geography  and  Maps.  See  map,  p.  533.  —  Fish,  Am.  Dipt.,  445.  — 
Hart,  Monroe  Doct.,  front.  —  Paxson,  New  Nation,  77,  340. 

Secondary.  Beard,  Contemp.  Am.  Hist.,  ch.  xiii.  —  Chamberlin, 
Philippine  Problem.  —  De  Witt,  Progressive  Movement,  pts.  iii,  iv.  — 
Duncan-Clark,  Progressive  Movement,  chs.  iv-vi,  xvi.  —  Fish,  Am. 
Dipl.,  chs.  xxxiv,  xxxv.  —  Ford,  Woodrow  Wilson.  —  Hart,  Monroe 
Doct.,  chs.  xv-xxiv.  —  Hecker,  Women's  Rights.  —  Hepburn,  Currency, 
chs.  xxii-xxv.  —  Koren,  Alcohol  and  Society.  —  McLaughlin  and  Hart, 
Cyclopaedia  of  Am.  Gov.  —  Reed,  Insurgent  Mexico.  —  Stan  wood,  Presi- 
dency, II.  ch.  iv.  —  Woodburn,  Polit.  Parties,  chs.  xxi,  xxii. 

Sources.  Am.  Year  Book,  1912  to  1916.  —  Beard,  Readings, 
§§  45,  54,  93,  94-  —  Beard  and  Shultz,  Docs,  on  the  Initiative.  —  Bogart 
and  Thompson,  Readings,  709,  765.  —  International  Year  Book,  1912 
to  1916.  —  Roosevelt,  New  Nationalism;  Progressive  Principles.  — 
Wilson,  New  Freedom. 

Pictures.     See  references  to  ch.  xxxiii. 

Topics  Answerable  from  the  References  Above 

(i)  Presidential  election  of  1912.  [§388]  —  (2)  Account  of  one  of  the 
conventions  of  1912:  Republican;  Progressive;  Democratic.  [§  388] 
—  (3)  Public  services  of  one  of  the  following  statesmen :  Champ 
Clark;  Bryan;  Wilson;  Underwood.  [§§  388-390]  —  (4)  Debates  on 
one  of  the  following  bills:  Underwood  tariff;  Federal  Reserve  Act; 
Federal  Trade  Commission  ;  Clayton  Antitrust  Act ;  Child  Labor  Act. 
[§  39°]  —  (5)  The  Sixteenth  Amendment;  or  the  Seventeenth  Amend- 
ment. [§  391]  —  (6)  Expedition  to  Vera  Cruz;  or  Pershing's  expedition. 
[§  392]  —  (?)  Occupation  of  Haiti.  [§  393] 

Topics  for  Further  Search 

(8)  Arguments  for  and  against  one  of  the  following :  Referendum ; 
Initiative;  Commission  Government;  Campaign  Expense  Laws;  Re- 
call ;  City  Manager.  [§  387]  —  (9)  Woman  suffrage  in  the  U.  S. :  begin- 
nings;  or  extension;  or  arguments  for  and  against.  [§  391]  —  (10)  Pro- 
hibition legislation:  beginnings;  or  extension;  or  arguments  for  and 
against.  [§  391]  —  (n)  Why  was  there  a  revolution  in  Mexico  against 
Diaz?  [§  392]  —  (12)  The  A.  B.  C.  powers.  [§  392]  —  (13)  Pan-Ameri- 
can congresses  since  1890.  [§  393]  —  (14)  What  are  the  duties  of  a 
neutral  power  in  time  of  war?  [§  394] 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 
WHAT  AMERICA  HAS   DONE   FOR   THE   WORLD 

396.    THE  AMERICAN  RACE 

THE  history  of  our  beloved  country  can  be  understood  only 
by  thinking  of  it  as  the  story  of  the  effort  to  make  great  prin- 
ciples and  ideals  prevail.  We  may  now  sum  up  for  ourselves 
what  the  United  States  of  America  has  accomplished  that  is 
worth  handing  on  to  the  next  generation. 

First  of  all,  the  United  States  has  taught  the  world  how  to 
make  a  great  modern  nation  out  of  a  variety  of  races  and  peoples. 

According  to  the  federal  census  of  1910,  in  the  total  popu- 
lation of  92,000,000  people  in  the  main  part  of  the  United 
States,  about  14,000,000  were  born  in  other  countries,  and 
19,000,000  were  children  of  foreigners.  Probably  25,000,000 
more  were  descended  from  non-English  races  and  10,000,000 
were  negroes,  leaving  about  24,000,000  who  were  descended 
solely  from  the  English  stock  that  was  in  the  country  before 
the  Revolution. 

Though  we  have  as  many  race  elements  as  any  other  country 
in  the  world,  we  have  succeeded  in  holding  to  a  common  set 
of  political  traditions  and  methods. 

From  the  earliest  times,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  been  grouped  in  communities,  first  called  colonies  and 
later  states.  There  were  thirteen  of  these  at  the  end  of  the 
Revolution  and  there  are  now  forty-eight,  besides  the  District 
of  Columbia  ;  the  Canal  Zone  ;  the  four  outlying  territories  and 
dependencies  of  Alaska,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  Philippine 
632 


The  American  Race  633 

Islands,  and  Porto  Rico;  some  small  islands;  and  five  pro- 
tectorates.    The  forty-eight  states  are  grouped  as  follows : 

(1)  New  England,  66,000  square  miles  and  6,600,000  people, 
inhabited  in  about  equal  numbers  by  people  of  the  old  New 
England  stock,  immigrants  now  living,  and  the  descendants  of 
the  earlier  immigrants. 

(2)  The  four  middle  states,  with  105,000  square  miles  and 
19,500,000  population,  have  more  wealth  than  any  other  part 

of  the  Union  because 
of  their  immense  man- 
ufactures    and     their 
i    great  cities. 

^*p,  (3)  The  South,  with 

*-'  •    969,000    square    miles 

and  sixteen  states,  had 
a  population  in  1910  of 
32,500,000.  Of  these 
states  West  Virginia, 
Missouri,  and  Okla- 
homa are  almost  as 
much  western  as  south- 
ern. 

(4)  The   middle   West,    with   seven   states   extending   west 
and    northwest  from    Ohio    to    Minnesota,  includes    389,000 
square  miles  and  a  population  in  1910  of   22,600,000.     This 
region  is  now  about  as  rich  and  as  closely  settled  as  the  eastern 
states. 

(5)  The  far  West,  made  up  of  twelve  states,  from  the  Missouri 
River  west  to  the  ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  contains  1,173,000 
square  miles  and  6,700,000  population.     This  region  includes 
much  mountain  and  desert,  and  is  still  underpopulated. 

(6)  The  three  Pacific  coast  states  of  Washington,  Oregon, 
and  California,  contain  324,000  square  miles  and  4,200,000 
population.     They  abound  in  natural  resources  and  form  the 
gateway  to  the  Pacific  and  Asia. 

HART'S  NEW.  AMER.  HIST.  — 39 


TYLER  DAVIDSON  FOUNTAIN,  CINCINNATI. 


634      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

397.    TERRITORIAL  EXPANSION 

The  people  of  the  United  States  live  on  an  area  which 
increased  from  about  369,000  square  miles  in  1776  to 
about  3,744,000  square  miles  by  the  following  additions  of 
territory  (maps,  pages  viii,  572-573) : 

(1)  The  Northwest  Territory  of   275,000  square  miles,  in 
part  conquered   by  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1778  (§  104),  in 
part  ceded  in  1782  (§  108) ;  and  the  area  south  of  the  Ohio 
River  with  205,000  square  miles,  which  was  in  part  previously 
occupied  by  frontiersmen  (§  102),  but  was  chiefly  gained  by  the 
clever  diplomacy  of  our  envoys  in  1782  (§  108). 

(2)  The  Louisiana  Purchase,  885,000  square  miles,  secured 
from  France  in  1803  (§  159). 

(3)  The  Oregon  country,  285,000  square  miles,  discovered  in 
1792,  explored  in  1805,  occupied  by  a  trading  post  in   1811 
(§  1 60),  occupied  by  settlers  after  1831,  and  confirmed  by  the 
treaty  of  1846  (§  229). 

(4)  West  Florida,  600  square  miles,  claimed  from  1803  (§  159) 
but  added  by  military  conquest  from  1810  to  1813. 

(5)  East   Florida,   59,000   square    miles,  purchased  by  the 
treaty  of  1819  with  Spain  (§  190). 

(6)  Texas,  previously  an  independent  state,  annexed  in  1845, 
with  389,000  square  miles  (§  228). 

(7)'  New  Mexico  and  California,  529,000  square  miles,  con- 
quered in  1846,  and  ceded  by  Mexico  in  1848  (§  231). 

(8)  Gadsden  purchase  of  30,000  square  miles,  bought  from 
Mexico  in  1853  (§  231). 

(9)  Alaska,  bought  in  1867  from  Russia  (§  319),  with  591,000 
square  miles. 

(10)  The  Hawaiian  Islands,  6500  square  miles,  previously 
an  independent  country,  annexed  by  Congress  in  1898  (§  364). 

(n)  Porto  Rico,  Guam,  and  the  Philippines,  119,000  square 
miles,  conquered  from  Spain  in  1898  (§  360). 

(12)  Part  of  the  Samoan  Islands,  77  square  miles,  claimed 


Development  of  the  Frontier  635 

after  1878,  and  confirmed  by  treaty  with  Germany  and  Great 
Britain  in  1899  (§  364). 

(13)  Several  small  Pacific  islands,  especially  Wake,  Baker, 
Howland,  and  Midway,  earlier  discovered  but  formally  recog- 
nized as  part  of  the  United  States  in  1898  (§  364). 

(14)  Panama  Canal  Zone,  474  square  miles,  annexed  by 
purchase  from  Panama  in  1903  (§  379). 

(15)  Three  of  the  Virgin  Islands   (St.   Thomas,  St.   John, 
St.  Croix),  138  square  miles,  bought  from  Denmark  in  1917. 


CITY  AND  HARBOR  OF  CHARLOTTE  AMALIE,  ST.  THOMAS. 

In  addition  the  United  States  between  1906  and  1916  obtained 
a  protectorate  over  the  neighboring  Latin  American  states  of 
Cuba,  Haiti,  Panama,  Santo  Domingo,  and  Nicaragua  (§  393). 
Altogether,  those  five  states  included  157,000  square  miles  and 
6,600,000  people. 

398.    DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FRONTIER 

With  the  exception  of  the  island  possessions,  nearly  all  the 
annexations  since  1776  have  been  in  an  unsettled  territory 
which  had  to  be  developed  by  new  settlers.  In  1800  Indiana 
and  Mississippi  were  the  frontier  communities.  In  1821  Mis- 


636      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

souri  was  admitted  as  the  first  state  west  of  that  river  except 
Louisiana.  In  1850  there  was  still  little  population  beyond  the 
Missouri  River  and  the  frontiers  of  Arkansas  and  Texas.  Then 
the  settled  area  began  to  work  backward  from  the  Pacific  coast, 
till  in  1890  a  continuous  block  of  states  extended  across  the 
continent  from  east  to  west. 

The  Indian  tribes,  once  the  sole  owners  of  all  this  magnifi- 
cent country,  were  pushed  aside  by  the  onset  of  settlers.  In 
the  conflict  of  1811,  the  northwestern  Indians  were  practically 
dispossessed  from  Indiana  (§  167).  The  wars  under  Jackson 
and  others  cleared  lower  Georgia  and  Alabama,  and  the  Indians 
of  northern  Georgia  were  moved  west  soon  after  1830  (§  240). 
The  northwestern  and  southwestern  tribes  continued  a  series 
of  bloody  wars  in  the  far  West  till  about  1885,  when  their 
power  was  destroyed  forever. 

As  the  wheat  fields  and  cornfields  advanced,  the  forests  fell, 
swamps  were  drained,  roads  created,  streams  bridged,  houses 
built,  schoolhouses  provided.  Never  before  had  mankind 
seen  such  a  speedy  and  complete  conquest  of  a  wilderness. 
America  has  taught  the  world  how  to  push  into  a  new  country, 
take  up  the  land,  build  cabins,  found  towns,  establish  schools, 
and  change  the  wilderness  into  a- great  civilized  land. 

399.     SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT 

The  immense  growth  of  the  United  States  in  the  agricultural 
regions  has  been  equaled  by  the  rise  of  great  cities.  In  1916 
there  were  more  than  sixty  cities,  each  having  a  population 
of  more  than  100,000.  The  great  wealth  of  those  places  is 
shown  by  miles  of  lofty  flats  and  business  structures,  and  the 
palatial  homes  of  rich  people,  by  docks  and  wharves  and 
enormous  railroad  terminals,  by  costly  public  buildings  and 
great  factories. 

Much  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  is  concentrated  in  the 
great  cities  because  they  offer  attractive  homes  to  the  rich, 
and  because  they  are  seaports,  or  full  of  factories  and  business 


Personal  Freedom  637 

houses.  The  eager  spirit  of  the  United  States  finds  its  oppor- 
tunity in  these  vast  cities.  The  total  property  value  of  the 
city  of  New  York  is  over  8000  millions,  which  is  more  than 
that  for  the  whole  of  New  England. 

These  cities  are  "melting  pots"  in  truth.  In  some  of  them 
more  than  half  the  residents  were  born  outside  the  United 
States.  In  large  cities  with  a  varied  population  such  as  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco,  nearly  all  the  languages  of  Europe  and  some 
of  Asia  are  spoken.  Upon  the  city  governments  is  placed  the 
great  responsibility  of  educating  the  children  of  the  immigrants 
and  of  preparing  them  for  citizenship. 

400.  PERSONAL  FREEDOM 

The  westward  movement  gave  a  fine  opportunity  to  carry 
into  effect  the  great  principle  that  the  people  of  a  country  are 
the  proper  governors  of  that  country.  By  long  experience, 
the  United  States  has  learned  how  to  make  popular  government 
a  reality  and  it  has  put  in  practice  the  following,  among  many 
principles  of  free  government : 

(1)  The  foundation  of  alt  democratic  government  is  the  right 
of  personal  freedom ;  that  is,  the  right  of  every  normal  man  and 
woman  to  be  free  from  the  personal  control  of  any  other  human 
being.     This  means  that  there  shall  be  no  slavery  such  as  was 
practiced  in  all  the  English  colonies  (§  75).      During  and  just 
after  the  Revolution,  about  half  the  new  states  rid  themselves 
of  this  curse  (§  112).      Then,  as  new  states  were  brought  in 
during  the  period  from  1800  to  1850,  they  were  admitted  to 
the  Union  in  pairs,  one  free  and  one  slave,  to  balance  each 
other  (§§  183,  235).     As  a  result  of  the  Civil  War,  slavery  was 
prohibited  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  in  every  part  of  the 
United  States  and  every  place  under  its  jurisdiction  (§  313). 
This  ended  the  long  struggle  to  keep  up  a  system  which  in  its 
nature  was  opposed  to  American  principles. 

(2)  To  this  freedom  from  bondage  is  added  freedom  from 
arbitrary   arrest   and    imprisonment,  from    unfair    trials    and 


638      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

cruel  punishments.  With  these  go  the  broad  right  to  everybody 
to  move  about  within  the  United  States,  to  pass  from  place  to 
place,  to  engage  in  any  trade  or  profession  for  which  one  is 
qualified,  to  find  opportunities  for  whatever  ability  one  may 
have.  In  the  United  States,  children  are  not  obliged  to  follow 
the  calling  of  their  fathers.  No  one  is  subject  to  the  will  of  the 
landowner  or  the  magistrate.  No  one  can  be  imprisoned  for 
debt.  Nobody  has  any  privileges  of  rank,  title,  or  nobility. 

(3)  The  United  States  has  gone  further  than  any  other 
large  country  in  acknowledging  that  women  are  a  part  of  the 
make-up  of  the  nation  and  are  entitled  to  a  share  in  the  public 
national  life.  Public  schools  for  girls  appeared  soon  after  the 
Revolution,  and  later  high  schools  and  colleges.  In  addition, 
many  private  secondary  schools  and  universities  have  been 
established  for  women.  Having  these  equal  educational  oppor- 
tunities, women  can  enter  many  employments  which  were  for- 
merly reserved  almost  entirely  for  men  ;  they  can  serve  as  clerks, 
bookkeepers,  stenographers,  librarians,  teachers  in  schools  and 
colleges,  workers  in  factories,  stores,  and  various  outdoor  pur- 
suits, and  as  physicians  and  lawyers.  Many  women  are  trustees 
or  officers  of  public  charitable  institutions,  and  a  few  are  state 
or  city  officials  and  members  of  legislatures.  In  most  states, 
laws  have  been  changed  so  as  to  give  to  women  the  right  to 
hold  property  and  to  carry  on  business  without  the  control  of 
their  husbands.  In  a  majority  of  the  states  of  the  Union, 
women  have  suffrage  in  school  or  municipal  affairs  or  both, 
and  in  about  one  quarter  of  the  states  of  the  Union  they  can 
vote  and  hold  office  on  equal  terms  with  men  (§  391).  Be- 
yond these  legal  privileges  and  rights,  women  in  the  United 
States  have  a  share  in  public  discussions  and  an  influence  in 
public  affairs  unknown  in  any  other  large  country  in  the  world. 

401.     FREEDOM  OF  THE  MIND 

Freedom  of  the  body  and  the  right  to  vote  would  be  of  little 
value  without  an  opportunity  to  form  and  express  one's  own 


Freedom  of  the  Mind  639 

opinion  and  to  discuss  matters  with  one's  neighbors.     In  this 
respect,  the  United  States  has  taught  a  lesson  to  the  world. 

(1)  Any  person  here  may  express  his  mind  on  any  public 
question,  provided  he  does  not  tell  malicious  untruths  about 
his  neighbors  or  public  men.     He  may  call  his  neighbors  to- 
gether in  a  public  meeting  to  discuss,  protest,  and  petition, 
and  he  may  print  his  views  in  a  newspaper. 

(2)  This  invaluable  freedom  extends  to  religious  belief,  teach- 
ing, and  utterance.     This  is  the  first  great  country  in  the  world 
in  which  men  and  women  have  been  allowed  freely  to  preach 
and  practice  any  form  of  religion  which  does  not  interfere  with 
the  morals  or  the  welfare  of  the  community. 

(3)  Americans  also  have  had  the  freest  opportunity  of  edu- 
cation.    The  community  has  provided  public  schools  where  all 
children  who  so  desire  may  be  educated  at  the  expense  of  the 
state.     Thus  every  child  has  a  chance  to  make  the  most  of 
•himself ;  while  the  state  on  its*  side  has  the  advantage  of  a 
population  in  which  people  know  something,  can  express  their 
ideas,  and  can  act  upon  reason.     No  other  country  in  the 
world  has  encouraged  so  many  boys  and  girls  to  make  use  of 
public  schools,  colleges,  universities,  and  professional  schools. 

(4)  The  people  of  the  United  States  enjoy  a  freedom  hardly 
known  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  to  form  societies  for  any 
legal  purpose.     Thousands  are  members  of  college  fraternities 
and  similar  societies ;  millions  of  members  belong  to  the  secret 
fraternities.     The   churches,   besides   their   religious  purposes, 
form  social  organizations  for  common  benefits.     Workingmen, 
business  men,  and  scientific  and  professional  men  are  grouped 
in  national  societies.     Such  organizations,  which  extend  from 
state  to  state,  tend  to  make  the  people  realize  that  they  belong 
to  one  country  and  have  one  purpose. 

Besides  all  these  societies,  some  of  which  number  their  mem- 
bership by  hundreds  of  thousands,  there  is  one  organization 
within  the  United  States  to  which  everybody  belongs,  which  is 
supreme  over  every  other  society,  corporation,  or  union,  and 


640      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

which  comes  first,  must  be  loved  most,  and  obeyed  first. 
That  society  is  our  country  itself,  the  United  States  of  America ; 
the  "American  Commonwealth,"  as  organized  in  its  various 
forms  of  local  and  city  governments,  state  governments,  and  the 
national  government. 

402.     FREEDOM  OF  LABOR 

No  government  can  be  carried  on,  no  country  can  be  kept 
alive,  without  the  hard  and  systematic  labor  of  millions  of  men 
and  women.     It  may  take  the  form  of  a  wage  system, 
such    as   prevailed   in   England   during  the 
eighteenth  century,  where  each  workman 
made    his   own   bargain,  and   a  hard 
bargain  it  was.     It  may  be  organized 
upon  the  idea  that  workmen  are  free 
to  make  individual  contracts 
or,    if    they    prefer,    may. 
unite  in  trades  unions  for 
what  is  called  "collective 
bargaining." 

On  this  freedom  of  la- 
bor are  many  limitations. 
The  states  and  the  na- 
tional government  have 
a  right  to  fix  the  num- 
ber of  hours  that  make 
a  day's  labor.  Eight 
hours  is  the  legal  day  in 
government  employ- 
ment and  on  govern- 
ment work.  Ten  hours 


A  MONUMENT  TO  LABOR.     (Designed  by 
Tilden,  San  Francisco.) 


is  the  legal  amount  in  many  states,  and  there  is  a  great  effort  to 
reduce  it  to  eight  hours.  In  some  states  there  are  special  laws 
as  to  the  hours  and  conditions  of  the  labor  of  women.  Again, 
in  many  states,  children  cannot  lawfully  be  employed  under  a 


Freedom  of  Business  641 

fixed  age,  and  not  then  except  for  a  limited  number  of  hours. 
Employers  of  labor  are  required  both  by  national  and  by  state 
laws  to  look  out  for  the  safety  of  their  workmen  and  to  compen- 
sate them  if  injured  by  accidents  while  at  work. 

Trades  unions,  which  are  powerful  in  many  parts  of  Europe, 
have  been  developed  to  a  high  degree  in  the  United  States. 
The  labor  unions  are  usually  eager  to  enroll  all  those  skilled  in 
their  trade.  Hence  they  feel  that  the  man  who  will  not  join 
the  union  is  acting  against  them.  The  laws  everywhere  recog- 
nize the  right  to  "strike  "  —  that  is,  to  stop  working  by  a  com- 
mon agreement ;  and  the  trades-unionist  feels  that  a  non-union 
man  who  keeps  on  at  work,  or  who  takes  the  place  of  the  union 
man  who  strikes,  is  stealing  his  job  and  taking  the  bread  out  of 
his  mouth.  Several  states  and  also  the  United  States  have 
set  up  boards  of  conciliation  or  arbitration,  which  are  intended 
to  bring  the  strikers  and  their  employers  into  accord.  The 
laws  of  many  states  also  provide  that  nobody  shall  engage  in 
certain  sorts  of  work,  such  as  that  of  barbers,  stationary  engi- 
neers, and  plumbers,  without  a  certificate  issued  by  the  state 
on  examination,  and  that  is  of  course  a  protection  to  those 
trades.  Certain  kinds  of  business,  such  as  the  sale  of  liquors 
and  dangerous  drugs,  are  restricted  or  prohibited  outright. 

With  these  exceptions  and  with  the  practical  exception  of 
the  power  of  the  labor  .unions  to  control  trades  in  which  they 
are  very  strong,  a  man  or  woman  who  wishes  to  make  a  living 
with  the  labor  of  hands  or  brain,  may  go  anywhere  throughout 
the  land  and  engage  in  any  kind  of  work  for  which  he  is  fitted. 
This  freedom  of  work,  combined  with  high  wages,  has  drawn 
millions  of  immigrants  from  other  countries. 

403.     FREEDOM  OF  BUSINESS 

The  same  right  of  free  choice  extends  to  the  business  man. 
He  may  go  to  any  part  of  the  country  and  engage  in  any  kind 
of  lawful  business.  He  may  form  firms,  partnerships,  and 
corporations. 


642       What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

This  ability  of  any  man  to  try  the  thing  he  thinks  he  can  do 
best  has  caused  amazing  wealth  and  prosperity  for  the  United 
States.  For  instance,  the  railroad  business  has  been  revolu- 
tionized by  American  cheap  steel  and  American  railroad  man- 
agement. The  average  trainload  of  freight,  moved  by  one 
engineer,  one  fireman,  one  conductor,  and  a  small  train  crew, 
was  in  1916  two  or  three  times  as  large  in  America  as  in  Europe. 

American  corporations  and  trusts,  with  all  their  dangers, 
have  shown  a  great  capacity  to  organize  business  on  a  large 


TRANSFERRING  AN  AEROPLANE  TO  A  TRAIN. 

scale.  They  succeed  because  in  many  lines  of  business  they 
bring  about  a  saving  in  the  cost  of  manufacture  and  in  the 
expenses  of  management  and  of  selling  goods.  On  the  other 
hand,  no  country  has  shown  more  success  in  curbing  great  com- 
binations of  capital. 

Among  modern  nations,  none  is  so  quick  as  the  United  States 
to  use  labor-saving  machinery  and  devices  for  factory,  office, 
farm,  and  home.  Americans  have  taught  the  world  how  to 
save  human  labor  by  the  use  of  farm  machinery,  including  such 
marvels  as  the  thirty-horse  harvester  which  goes  through 
a  field  of  standing  wheat,  and  leaves  behind  it  bags  of  grain 


Popular  Government  643 

ready  for  shipment.  The  same  expertness  in  machinery  ex- 
tends to  the  factories.  The  willingness  of  American  workmen 
to  invent  tools  and  adapt  themselves  to  new  machinery  is  one 
of  the  reasons  for  the  prosperity  of  this  country.  The  tele- 
graph, electric  traction,  electric  light,  and  the  telephone  are 
all  American  inventions.  No  other  nation  approaches  the 
Americans  in  the  use  of  the  telephone  and  of  electric  light. 
The  use  of  motor  cars  on  a  great  scale  at  low  prices  began 
in  the  United  States.  The  first  practicable  flying  machine 
was  American. 

In  transportation,  the  United  States  has  learned  much  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  has  taught  much.  The  first  steam 
locomotives  were  English,  but  the  first  practical  steamboat 
was  American  (§  178).  From  end  to  end  of  the  United  States, 
there  were  in  1916,  one  post  office  system  including  a  parcel 
post,  two  telegraph  companies,  one  system  of  currency,  one 
general  method  of  transportation  of  through  freight  and  through 
passengers.  Free  trade  existed  throughout  the  Union  and  no 
stilt  t-  could  hinder  it. 

404.    POPULAR  GOVERNMENT 

Perhaps  the  largest  contribution  that  America  has  made  to 
the  world  is  the  proof,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  that  popu- 
lar government  is  possible  for  a  nation  of  great  extent,  with  a 
large  population.  This  success  is  in  part  due  to  some  of  the 
following  peculiarities  of  our  American  form  of  government : 

(1)  The  breadth  of  the  suffrage,  which  is  based  upon  the 
idea  that  if  a  man  has  a  vote  he  will  think  about  public  affairs. 

(2)  Equal  representation  of  districts  of  equal  population  — 
a  plain,  comprehensible  method,  which  keeps  people  satisfied. 

(3)  Organized  parties  and  party  politics,  which  help  to  keep 
government  moving,  so  long  as  they  are  not  looked  upon  as 
the  real  government  themselves. 

(4)  Frequent  elections,  making  it  possible  to  bring  public 
opinion  to  bear  in  a  quick  and  effective  way. 


644      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

In  practice,  popular  government  has  had  to  contend  with 
many  difficulties.  People  change  their  residences  so  often 
that  they  do  not  come  to  know  each  other  well.  Political 
organization  and  action  is  complicated  and  can  often  be  managed 
by  a  few  men.  Popular  government  has  sometimes  been 
almost  destroyed,  as  by  the  Tweed  Ring  in  the  city  of  New 
York  (§347)- 

Nevertheless  popular  government  has  so  far  found  means  to 
keep  possession  of  its  rightful  authority  by  the  following 
methods:  (a)  safeguarding  the  ballot  by  voting  devices  such 
as  the  Australian  Ballot  and  by  limiting  the  amount  that  may 
be  spent  by  candidates  for  office  and  their  friends;  (b)  giving 
the  people  a  greater  share  in  the  government  by  direct  vote  on 
constitutional  amendments  and  on  legislative  acts  (§  387) ; 

(c)  guarding   more   carefully   the  nomination   machinery,   by 
supervising  the  conventions  or  by  primary  elections  (§  387) ; 

(d)  giving  greater  power  to  a  few  officials,  such  as  the  mayors 
of  cities,  the  President,  and  the  heads  of  city  commission  gov- 
ernments, and  then  encouraging  men  of  high   character  and 
reputation  to  stand  for  those  offices. 

405.     SUCCESS  OF  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  lesson  which  the  United  States 
has  taught  the  rest  of  the  world  is  the  success  of  the  federal 
system,  which  has  been  drawn  upon  as  a  model  by  the  German, 
Swiss,  Canadian,  Australian,  and  South  African  confederations. 
This  result  seems  due  chiefly  to  the  following : 

(1)  The  national  government  is  well  organized  in  a  well- 
balanced  Congress,  a  strong  President  with  the  most  efficient 
civil  service  in  the  country,  and  Federal  Courts  of  weight  and 
dignity.     Under  the  Constitution  this  government  has  shown 
that  it  possesses  powers  enough  for  national  purposes,  such  as 
foreign  commerce  and  war,  federal  taxes,  banking,  currency, 
and  internal  commerce  and  regulation  of  citizenship. 

(2)  The  states  have  shown  by  an  experience  of  more  than 


Summary  —  Meaning  of  American  History     645 

a  hundred  years  that  they  can  exercise  very  large  authority 
over  business  confined  to  the  boundaries  of  one  state,  over 
labor,  education,  public  improvements,  and  the  "police  power  "  ; 
that  is,  the  relations  of  men  with  each  other  and  with  the  gov- 
ernment. Differences  between  the  state  and  national  govern- 
ments about  their  fields  of  authority  are  finally  settled  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

(3)  The  local  governments  —  towns,  boroughs,  villages,  and 
cities  —  are  all  created  by  the  states.     This  is  the  weakest 
part  of  American  government  and  has  little  to  teach  the  rest 
of  the  world,  because  many  of  the  cities  are  badly  governed, 
and  are  unfavorably  affected  by  state  and  national  politics. 

(4)  A  new  type  of  government  has  sprung  up  since   1898 
in  the  dependencies  —  which  are  really  colonies  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  important  exception  that  hardly  any  settlers 
go  out  from  the  continental  United   States  to  live  in  them. 
Such  colonies  are  honestly  and  carefully  governed,  but  it  is 
difficult  to  make  them  fit  into  the  principle  of  "local   self- 
government"  which  prevails  in  the  United  States,  or  into  the 
idea  of  government  by  the  "consent  of  the  governed"  which 
inspired  the  men  of  the  Revolution. 

406.   SUMMARY  —  MEANING  OF   AMERICAN  HISTORY 

Of  what  advantage  to  the  pupil  has  been  this  study  of  Ameri- 
can history?  Is  it  simply  a  tale  that  is  told,  which  stores 
the  mind  with  some  knowledge  of  the  men  and  events  of  our 
history?  Or  has  it  left  impressions  that  will  make  American 
citizens  helpful  in  carrying  on  the  nation  in  the  next  generation  ? 
As  we  follow  the  story,  all  the  way  from  the  days  of  our  explor- 
ing, sea-fighting,  and  colonizing  forbears,  the  three  things 
most  important  to  remember  and  apply  are  the  principles 
which  the  French  have  tried  to  express  in  their  national  motto 
—  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity." 

Liberty  means  in  the  United  States,  not  the  freedom  to  do 
whatever  one  likes,  but  —  with  due  respect  to  the  rights  of 


646      What  America  has  done  for  the  World 

others  —  to  take  part  in  life  as  one  judges  best,  to  act 
for  oneself.  That  is  what  has  made  the  great  inventors, 
educators,  and  statesmen ;  they  have  worked  out  their  own 
problems. 

Equality  in  the  United  States  means  an  equal  privilege  before 
the  law  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child.  It  is  the  just  boast 
of  our  country  that  all  people  who  have  their  own  way  to  make, 
enjoy  a  better  chance  here  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

Fraternity  means  combination ;  and  in  the  whole  history  of 
America,  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  thing  is  the  spirit  of 
orderly  union.  The  Pilgrims  on  the  Mayflower  agreed  to  act 
together  and  to  obey  the  majority ;  the  patriots  of  the  Revo- 
lution created  state  and  national  governments ;  the  Federal 
Convention  enlarged  and  strengthened  the  Union ;  the  spirit 
of  union  saved  the  government  from  destruction  by  the  Civil 
War,  and  has  brought  the  two  sections  together  again. 

Liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  are  all  parts  of  one  great 
idea  —  the  happiness  and  safety  of  the  individual  under  the 
protection  of  law  and  order.  Americans  do  not  look  upon  "The 
State"  as  something  different  from  themselves.  The  state 
exists  only  in  order  to  make  individuals  as  free  and  happy  as 
possible.  The  state,  by  its  methods  of  discovering  and  apply- 
ing the  popular  will,  makes  it  possible  for  the  nation  to  grow 
and  to  bring  about  necessary  changes  and  reforms  by  an  appeal 
to  the  fairness  and  moral  sense  of  the  people. 

As  Lincoln  said  in  his  first  inaugural:  "Why  should  there 
not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people? 
Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?"  Ours  be 
Lowell's  pledge  of  patriotism :  — 

"  O  Beautiful !  my  Country  !  .  .  . 
What  were  our  lives  without  thee  ? 
What  all  our  lives  to  save  thee  ? 
We  reck  not  what  we  gave  thee  ; 
We  will  not  dare  to  doubt  thee, 
But  ask  whatever  else,  and  we  will  dare !  " 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE   GREAT  WAR 
407.  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF  1916 

DURING  the  year  1916  relations  with  Europe  grew  steadily 
more  serious.  When  several  Americans  were  killed  by  a 
German  submarine  while  crossing  the  English  Channel  in  tjie 
British  ship  Sussex,  the  German  government  apologized,  and 
finally  agreed  not  to  destroy  merchant  ships  without  warning; 
that  is,  without  giving  passengers  and  crew  a  chance  to  escape 
in  lifeboats.  Notwithstanding  many  attacks,  both  in  the 
press  and  in  Congress,  President  Wilson  earnestly  sought  to 
preserve  peace. 

No  other  serious  candidate  appeared  for  the  Democratic 
nomination  but  President  Wilson.  In  the  Republican  party 
several  states  put  forward  their  favorite  sons:  Root  in  New 
York,  Burton  in  Ohio,  Fairbanks  in  Indiana,  Sherman  in  Illi- 
nois, and  others.  The  Progressives  appointed  delegates  to 
meet  in  Chicago  on  June  7,  the  same  day  as  the  Republican 
convention.  They  hoped  that  the  Republicans  would  nomi- 
nate Roosevelt.  When  the  conventions  met,  the  Republicans 
refused  to  accept  Roosevelt,  and  nominated  Charles  E.  Hughes, 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  Progressive  convention 
named  Roosevelt  for  President,  but  he  declined  the  nomination, 
and  supported  Hughes  in  the  campaign.  The  Democratic 
convention  at  St.  Louis  a  few  days  later  renominated  Wilson 
and  supported  his  policy  in  Mexico  and  in  protecting  the 
647 


648       The  United  States  in  the  Great  War 

citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the  European  war.  Hughes 
made  long  campaign  trips  through  the  country,  but  the  Cam- 
paign was  rather  quiet.  Wilson's  position  as  to  war  and 
peace  satisfied  the  majority  of  the  voters,  and  he  was  re- 
elected  by  a  very  close  electoral  vote,  276,  to  255  for  Hughes. 
The  total  popular  vote  showed  about  600,000  plurality  for 
Wilson.  The  vote  was  very  close  in  some  states ;  out  of  nearly 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  ADDRESSING  CONGRESS. 

1,000,000  votes  in  California  Wilson's  plurality  was  3773,  and 
Hughes's  plurality  in  Minnesota  was  392.  The  election  was 
won  by  a  combination  of  the  solid  South  with  New  Hampshire, 
Ohio,  and  most  of  the  far  western  states. 

The  reelection  of  Wilson  meant  that  every  honorable  effort 
would  be  made  to  keep  out  of  the  European  war,  and  in  January, 
1917,  President  Wilson  in  a  public  address  to  both  houses  of 
Congress  demanded  in  behalf  of  the  neutral  nations  "A  peace 


Beginning  of  the  War  with  Germany        649 

without  victory."  By  this  he  meant  a  peace  in  which  none  of 
the  European  powers  was  to  be  crushed  or  deprived  of  the  power 
of  governing  itself.  His  ideas  seemed  to  promise  relief  from 
the  terrible  burden  of  war ;  when  the  German  government 
announced  that  beginning  with  February  it  would  capture  any 
vessels  that  ventured  to  approach  the  coasts  of  the  Allies  in 
Europe,  no  matter  what  their  flag,  whence  they  came,  whither 
they  were  bound,  or  what  their  cargo.  All  such  vessels,  cargoes, 
and  the  persons  on  board  were  to  be  sunk  without  warning  and 
without  mercy  by  German  submarines. 

408.   BEGINNING  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  GERMANY 

This  raised  anew  the  question  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
United  States.  The  action  of  Germany  was  virtually  a  dec- 
laration of  war,  and  the  only  way  to  avoid  active  hostilities 
was  for  the  United  States  to  give  up  commerce  with  Europe, 
so  long  as  it  pleased  Germany  to  ignore  our  rights.  The  success 
of  Germany  would  mean,  therefore,  the  setting  up  of  a  great 
world  power  which  would  hold  the  seas  in  control ;  a  power 
which  looked  upon  the  United  States  as  an  enemy  because  it 
furnished  food  and  munitions  to  the  Allies. 

In  this  great  crisis  President  Wilson  made  an  address  to 
Congress  in  which  he  announced  that  the  United  States  could 
not  accept  such  dictation  and  that  the  time  had  come  to  de- 
clare war.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  "pacifists,"  Con- 
gress on  April  6  passed  a  declaration  of  war  against  Germany. 
From  that  moment  the  two  countries  were  public  enemies. 

Almost  the  first  hostile  step  was  to  seize  the  German  merchant- 
men, then  lying  in  the  American  ports,  many  of  which  had  been 
deliberately  damaged  by  their  crews.  A  naval  force  was  shortly 
sent  to  Europe  to  join  in  hunting  out  the  submarines.  Merchant 
ships  were  armed,  so  that  they  might  protect  themselves  if 
possible. 

A  bill  was  at  once  introduced  for  raising  a  great  national  army. 
An  act  of  1916  already  had  provided  for  an  increase  in  the  regular 
HART'S  N.  w  AUER.  HIST.  —  40 


650        The  United  States  in  the  Great  War 

army  to  about  250,000  and  of  the  state  militia  to  about  400,000. 
The  new  bill,  passed  in  May,  created  a  new  national  army  to  be 
called  in  successive  waves  of  about  500,000  each,  and  to  be 
chosen  by  draft  out  of  the  able-bodied  men  between  21  and  31 
years  of  age.  This  was  followed  up  by  a  tremendous  tax  bill 
which  more  than  doubled  the  annual  amount  paid  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  A  loan  bill,  also,  provided  for 
borrowing  still  larger  sums.  For  all  kinds  of  war  prepara- 
tions, Congress  provided  for  spending  about  twenty  billion 
dollars. 

A  registration  of  the  men  between  21  and  31  showed  nearly 


A  MILITARY  AEROPLANE. 

10,000,000  men,  out  of  which,  after  proper  exemptions  were 
made,  the  national  army  could  be  drafted.  Within  a  few  weeks 
commissions  came  over  from  England,  France,  Italy,  Belgium, 
and  Russia  and  created  great  enthusiasm  wherever  they  went. 
The  War  Department  established  camps  for  the  training  of 
officers  and  men  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  the  navy  was 
enlarged,  and  arrangements  were  made  to  build  a  fleet  of 
merchant  ships  and  a  vast  number  of  aeroplanes.  The  coun- 
try was  aroused  by  the  mighty  preparations  to  a  sense  of  the 
great  task  in  hand. 


APPENDIX   A 

BRIEF   LIST   OF   DESK   BOOKS 

(These  books,  obtainable  at  moderate  cost,  are  well  adapted  for  constant 
use  on  the  teacher's  desk.  At  least  one  work  out  of  each  of  the  five  groups 
should  be  available  for  pupils'  use.) 

I.  Methods  and  Materials.     American  Historical  Association,  Committee  of 

Seven,  The  Study  of  History  in  Schools.     (N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1899.) 
Bourne,  H.  E.,  The  Teaching  oj  History  and  Civics  in  the  Elementary  and 

Secondary  School.     (N.  Y.,  Longmans,  1902.) 
Channing,  E.,  Hart,  A.  B.,  and  Turner,  F.  J.,  Guide  to  the  Study  and  Reading 

of  American  History.     (Bost.,  Ginn,  1912.) 

History  Teacher?  Magazine  (monthly).     (Phila.,  McKinley,  1909.) 
New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  A  History  Syllabus  for  Second- 
ary Schools.     (Bost.,  Heath,  1904.     Part  IV,  on  American  History,  sold 
separately.) 

New  England  History  Teachers'  Association,  Historical  Sources  in  Schools. 
(N.Y.,  Macmillan,  1902.) 

II.  Collections  of  Sources.     Ames,  H.  V.,  ed.,  State  Documents  on  Federal 

Relations.     (X.  Y.,  Longmans,  1906.) 

Caldwell,  H.  W.,  ed.,  Survey  of  American  History.     (Chic.,  Ainsworth,  1900.) 
Caldwell,  H.  W.,  and  Persinger,  C.  E,  eds.,  Source  History  of  the   United 

States.     (Chic.,  Ainsworth,  1909.) 
Hart,  A.  B.,  ed.,  American  History  told  by  Contemporaries.     (4  vols.,  N.  Y., 

Macmillan,  1897-1901.) 
Hart,  A.  B.,  ed.,  American  Patriots  and  Statesmen.     (5  vols.,  N.  Y.,  Collier's, 

1916.) 
Hart,  A.  B.,  ed.,  Source  Book  of  American  History.     (N.  Y.,  Macmillan, 

1900.) 
Hart,  A.  B.,  and  Channing,  Edward,  eds.,  American  History  Leaflets.     (36 

nos.,  N.  Y.,  Simmons,  1892-1910.) 
Hill,   Mabel,  ed.,  Liberty  Documents,  -with    Contemporary   Exposition   and 

Critical  Comments.     (X.  Y.,  Longmans,  1901.) 
MacDonald,  Win.,   ed.,    Documentary   Source    Book   of  American    History. 

(N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1908.) 

III.  Brief  Histories.     Bassett,  J.    S.,  Short  History  of  the    United  States. 
(N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1913.) 

Sparks,  E.  E.,  The  United  States  of  America.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  Putnams,  1904.) 
ix 


Appendix  B 


IV.  Short  Series  of  Histories.     Epochs  of  American  History.     (3  vols., 
N.  Y.,  Longmans.      Rev.  eds.,  about  1914.) 

1.  Thwaites,  R.  G.,  The  Colonies. 

2.  Hart,  A.  B.,  formation  of  the  Union. 

3.  Wilson,  Woodrow.  Division  and  Reunion. 

Home  University  'Library  of  Modern  Knowledge.  (5  vols.,  N.  Y.,  Holt, 
1911-14.) 

1.  Andrews,  C.  M.,  The  Colonial  Period. 

2.  Smith,  T.  C.,  The  Wars  between  England  and  America. 

3.  MacDonald,  \Vm.,  From  Jefferson  to  Lincoln. 

4.  Paxson,  F.  L.,  The  American  Civil  War. 

5.  Haworth,  P.  L.,  Reconstruction  and  Union. 

The  Riverside  History  of  the  United  States.  (4  vols.,  Bost,  Houghton 
Mifflin,  1915.) 

1.  Becker,  C.  L.,  Beginnings  of  the  American  People. 

2.  Johnson,  A.,  Union  and  Democracy. 

3.  Dodd,  \V.  E.,  Expansion  and  Conflict. 

4.  Paxson,  F.  L.,  The  New  Nation. 

A  Short  History  of  the  American  People.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  Am.  Book  Co.) 

1.  Greene,    E.     B.,    The    Foundations    of   American   Nationality.     (In 
preparation.) 

2.  Fish,  C.  R.,  The  Development  of  American  Nationality.     (1913.) 

V.  Biographical  Series.     American  Crisis  Biographies.     (15  vols.,  Phila., 

Jacobs,  1907-14.) 
American    Statesmen.      (31    vols.    and    additional    vols.,    Bost.,     Houghton 

Mifflin,  1907-14.) 

Beacon  Biographies.     (31  vols.,  Bost.,  Small,  Maynard,  1899^1901.) 
Riverside  Biographical  Series.     (14   vols.,  Bost.,  Houghton,   1900-02.) 

APPENDIX    B 
GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(Containing  exact  titles  of  the  most  important  books  to  which  reference  is 
made  in  the  chapter  bibliographies.) 

Adams,  Henry,  History  of  the  United  States,  1801-1817.  (9  vols.,  N.  Y., 
1889-91.)  —John  Randolph.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost,,  1900.) 

Addams,  Jane,  Twenty  Years  at  Hull-House.     (N.  Y.,  1910.) 

Allen,  G.  W.,  Our  Naval  War  with  France.  (Bost.,  1909.)  —  Our  Navy 
and  the  Barbary  Corsairs.  (Bost.,  1905.) 

American  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1861-1874.  (N.Y.,  1862-75.)  Continued 
as  Appletons1  Annual  Cyclopaedia,  1875-1902.  (N.  Y.,  1876-1903.) 

American  Review  of  Reviews.     Monthly  Mag.      (N.  Y.,  1890-.) 

American   Year  Book,  1910-.     (Annual,  N.  Y.,  191 1-.) 

Ames,  H.  V.,  ed.,  State  Documents  on  Federal  Relations.     (N.  Y.,  1906.) 


General  Bibliography  xi 

Andrews,  C.  M.,  Colonial  Self- Government.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  V.,  1904  )  — 

Colonial  Period.     (Home  Univ.  Lib.,  N.  Y.,  1912.) 

Avery,  E.  M.,  History  of  the   United  States  and  Its  People.     (7  vols.,  Cleve- 
land, 1904-10.) 

Babcock,  K.  C.,  Rise  of  American  Nationality.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.) 
Bassett,  J.  S.,  Federalist  System.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.)  —  Life  of  An- 
drew Jackson.     (2  vols,  N. Y.,  1911.)  —  Short  History   of  the    United 

States.     (N.Y.,  1913.) 

Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War.     (4  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1888.) 
Beard,  C.  A.,  Contemporary  American  History,  1877-1913.     (N.  Y.,  1914.)  — 

headings  in  American  Government  and  Politics.     (  Rev.  ed.,  N .  Y.,  1913.) 
Becker,  C.  L.,  Beginnings  of  the  American  People.     (Riverside,  Bust.,  1915.) 
Bogart,  E.  L.,  Economic  History  of  the  United  States.     (N.Y.,  1907.) 
Bogart,  E.  L.,  and  Thompson,  C.  M.,  eds.,  headings  in  the  Economic  History 

of  the  United  States.     (N.Y.,  1916.) 
Bourne,  E.  G.,  ed.,  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto.     (Trail 

Makers,  2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1904.)  —  Spain   in  America.     (Amer.  Nation, 

N.Y.,  1904.) 

Brigham,  A.  P.,  Geographic  Influences  in  American  History.     (Bost.,  1903.) 
Brooks,  E.  S.(  Story  of  Our  War  with  Spain.     (Bost.,  1899.) 
Brown,  W.  G.,  Andrew  Jackson.    ( Riverside  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1900.)  —  The  Lcnuer 

South  in  American  History.     (N.  Y.,  1902.) 

Bruce,  P.  A.,  Social  Life  of  Virginia  in  the  ijth  Centtirv,     (Richmond,  1907.) 
( .'aid well,  II.  W.,  ed.,  American  Territorial  Development.      (Chic.,  1900.)  — 

Survey  of  American  History.     (Chic.,  1900.) 
Caldwell,  H.  W.,  and  Persinger,  C.  E.,  eds.,  Source  History  of  the  United 

States.      (Chic.,  1909.) 

Carlton,  F.  T.,  History  and  Problems  of  Organized  Labor.     (Bost.,  1911.) 
Chad  wick,  F.  E.,  Causes  of  the  Civil  War.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.)  — 

delations  of  the  United  States  and  Spain.     (3  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1909-11.) 
Channing,  Edward,  History  of  the   United  States.     (4  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1905-.)  — 

Jeffersonian  System.     (Amer.  Nation,  N. Y.,  1906.) 
Chittenden,  H.  M.,  American  Fur  Trade  in  the  Far  West.     (3  vols.,  N.  Y., 

1902.) 

Collier  &  Son,  P.  F.,  Pub.,  Story  of  the  Great  War.     (5  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1916-.) 
Coman,  Katharine,  Economic  Beginnings  of  the  Far   West.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y., 

1912.)  —  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States.     (Rev.  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1910.) 
Curry,  J.  L.  M.,  Civil  History  of  the  Government  of  the   Confederate  States. 

(Richmond,  1901.) 

Dana,  R.  H.,  Two  Years  before  the  Mast.     (N.  Y.,  1840,  and  later  editions.) 
Dewey,  D.  R.,  Financial  History  of  the  United  States.     (Amer.  Citizen  Ser., 

5th  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1915. )  —  National  Problems,  1885-1897.     (Amer.  Nation, 

N.Y.,I907.) 

De  Witt,  B.  P.,  Progressive  Movement.     (Citizen's  Library,  N.  Y.,  1915.) 
Dodd,  W.  E.,  Expansion  and  Conflict.      (Riverside  Hist.,  Bost.,  1915.)  — 

Jefferson  Davis.     (Amer.  Crisis  Biogr.,  Phila.,  1907.) 
Du  Bois,  W.  E.  B.,  Souls  of  Black  Folk.     (Chic.,  1903.) 


xii  Appendix  B 

Dunbar,  P.  L.,  Folks  from  Dixie.     (N.  Y.,  1  898.  )  —  Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life. 

(N.Y.,  1896.) 
Dunne,  F.  P.,  Mr.  Dooley  in  Peace  and  in  War.     (Bost.,  1898.)  —  Mr.  Dooley 

in  the  Hearts  of  His  Countrymen.     (Bost.,  1899.) 
Dunning,  W.  A.,  Reconstruction.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1907.) 
Earle,  A.  M.,  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days.     (N.  Y  ,  1899.)  —  Colonial  Dames 

and  Goodioives.      (Bost.,  1895.)  —  Curious  Punishments  of  Bygone  Days. 

(N.  Y.,  1896.)  —Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days.     (N.  Y.,  1898.)  —  Sabbath 

in  Puritan  New  England.     (N.  Y.,  1891.)  —  Stage-Coach  and  Tavern 

Days.     (N.  Y.,  190x3.)  —  Two  Centuries  of  Costume  in  America.     (2  vols., 

N.Y.,  1903.) 
Eastman,  C.  A.,  Indian  Boyhood.     (N.  Y.,  1902.)  —  Indian  To-day.     (N.  Y., 


Eggleston,  G.  C.,  ed.,  American   War  Ballads  and  Lyrics.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y., 

1889.)  —  ^   Rebel's  Recollections.      (N.  Y.,  1905.)  —  Irene  of  the  Moun- 

tains.    (Bost.,  1909.) 
Fish,  C.  R.,  American  Diplomacy.     (Amer.  Hist.  Ser.,  N.  Y.,  1915.)  —Devel- 

opment of  American  Nationality.     (N.  Y.,  1913.) 
Fiske,  John,  American  Revolution.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1891.)  —  Beginnings  of 

New  England.     (Bost  ,  1889.)  —  Critical  Period  of  American  History. 

(Bost.,  1888.)  —  Discovery  of  America.     (2  vols.,  Bost,  1892.)  —  Dutch 

and  Quaker  Colonies.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1899.)  —  Mississippi  Valley  in  the 

Civil  War.     (Bost.,  1900.)  —  New  France  and  New  England.     (Bost  , 

1902.)  —  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1897.) 
Ford,  H.  J.,  Woodrow  Wilson.     (N.  Y.,  1916.) 
Ford,  P.  L.,  Honorable  Peter  Stirling.      (N.  Y.,   1894.)  —  Janice  Meredith. 

(N.  Y.,  1899.  )  —  The  Many-sided  Franklin.     (N.  Y.,  1  899.)  —  The  True 

George  Washington.      (Phila.,  1902.) 

Foster,  J.  W.,  Century  of  American  Diplomacy.      (Bost.,  1900.) 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  Autobiography.     (Many  editions.) 
Garrison,  G.  P.,  Texas.     (Amer.  Commonwealths,  Bost.,  1903.)  —  Westward 

Extension.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.) 
Grant,  U.  S.,  Personal  Memoirs.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1885-86.) 
Greene,  E.   B.,  Provincial  America.      (Amer.   Nation,  N.  Y.,  1905.)  —  Pro- 

vincial Governor  in  English  Colonies  of  North  America.     (N.  Y.,  1898.) 
Griffis,  W.  E  ,  America  in  the  East.      (N.  Y.,  1899.)  —Sir  William  Johnson 

and  the  Six  Nations.     (Makers  of  Amer.,  N.  Y.,  1891.) 
Hapgood,  Hutchins,  Paul  Jones.     (Riverside  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1901.) 
Hapgood,  Norman.     Abraham  Lincoln.     (N.  Y.,  1899.)  —  Daniel  Webster. 

(Beacon  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1899.) 
Harding,  S.  B.,  and  Clapp,  J.  M.,  eds.,  Select  Orations  Illustrating  American 

Political  History.      (N.Y.,  1909.) 
Harris,  J.  C.,  On  the  Plantation.     (N.  Y.,  1892.)  —  Uncle  Remus,  His  Songs 

and  His  Sayings.     (N.  Y.,  1880.) 
Hart,  A.  B.,  Actual  Government.     (Amer.  Citizen  Ser.,  3d  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1908.) 

—  American  Nation,  a  History  ;  from   Original  Sources  by  Associated 

Scholars,     (ed.,  28  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1904-17.)  —  American  History  Told  by 


General  Bibliography  xiii 

Contemporaries.  (4  vols.,  1897-1901 ).  —  American  Patriots  and  States- 
men. (Collier  Classics,  ed.,  5  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1916. )  —  Epoch  Maps  Illustrat- 
ing American  History.  (4th  ed. ,  N.  Y.,  1910.)  —  Formation  of  the  Union. 
(Epochs  of  Amer.  Hist.,  rev.  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1915.)  — Foundations  of  Ameri- 
can Foreign  Policy.  (N.Y.,  1901.) — Monroe  Doctrine :  an  Interpreta- 
tion. (Bost.,  1916.) — National  Ideals  Historically  Traced.  (Amer. 
Nation,N.  Y.,  1907.)  —  Obvious  Orient.  (N.Y.,  1911.)  —  Salmon  Port- 
land Chase.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.)  —  Slavery  and  Abolition. 
(Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.)  —  Source  Book  of  American  History,  (ed., 
N.  Y.,  1900.)  —  Source  Readers  in  American  History,  (ed.,  4  vols., 
N.  Y.,  1902-03.)  —  Southern  South.  (N.  Y.,  1910.)  —  War  in  Europe. 
(N.  Y.,  1914-) 

Haworth,  P.  L.,  America  in  Ferment.  (Indianapolis,  1915.)  —  Hayes-  Tilden 
Disputed  Presidential  Election  of  1876.  (Cleveland,  1906.)  —  Recon- 
struction and  Union.  (Home  Univ.  Lib.,  N.  Y.,  1912.) 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  Blithe.iale  Romance.  (Bost.,  1852.)  —  Grandfather's 
Chair.  (Bost.,  1840.)  —  Old  News  in  Snow  Image  and  Other  Twice- 
Told  Tales.  (Bost.,  1852.)  —  Septimius  Felton.  (Bost.,  1872.)  —Twice- 
Told  Tales.  (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1851;  also  later  eds.) 

Hill,  Mabel,  ed.,  Liberty  Documents.     (N.  Y.,  1901.) 

Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  Old  Northwest.     (2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1888.) 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  Poetical  Works.     (In  many  editions.) 

Ilowells,  \V.  D.,  Boy's  To-ivn.     (N.  Y.,  1890.) 

Hunt,  Gaillard,  John  C.  Calhoun.  (Amer.  Crisis  Biogr.,  Phila.,  1908.)  — 
James  Madison.  (N.  Y.,  1902.) 

International  Year  Book.  1898-1902,  1907-.  (Annual,  N.  Y.,  1899-1903, 
1908-.) 

James,  J.  A.,  ed.,  Readings  in  American  History.     (N.  Y.,  1914.) 

Johnson,  Allen,  eA.,  Readings  in  American  Constitutional  History,  1776-1876. 
(Bost.,  1912.)  —  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  (N.  Y.,  1908.)  —  Union  and  De- 
mocracy. (Riverside  Hist.,  Bost.,  1915.) 

Johnston,  Alexander,  and  Woodburn,  J.  A.,  eds.,  American  Orations  :  Studies 
in  American  Political  History.  (4  vols.,  1896-97.) 

King,  Grace,  Jean  Baptiste  Le  Moyne,  Sieur  de  Bienville.  (Makers  of  Amer., 
N.Y.,  1892.) 

Latane,  J.  H.,  America  as  a  World  Power,  1897-1907.  (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y., 
1907.) 

Leland,  C.  G.,  Algonquin  Legends  of  New  England.     (Bost.,  1884.) 

Lodge,  II.  C.,  Alexander  Hamilton.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.)  — 
Daniel  Webster.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.) — George  Washing- 
ton. (Amer.  Statesmen,  2  vols.,  Bost.,  1900.)  —  Story  of  the  Revolution. 
(2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1898;  also  in  i  vol.,  1903.) 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  Poetical  Works.     (1893,  and  many  editions.) 

Lummis,  C.  F.,  Some  Strange  Corners  of  Our  Country.  (N.  Y.,  1892.)  — 
Spanish  Pioneers.  (Chic.,  1893.) 

McCall,  S.  W.,  Life  of  Thomas  Brackett  Reed.  (Bost.,  1914.)  —  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.) 


xiv  Appendk  B 

MacDonald,  William,  From  Jefferson  to  Lincoln.  (Home  Univ.  Lib.,  N.  Y., 
l9l3-)—Jack$onian  Democracy.  (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1906.)  — 
Select  Charters  and  Other  Documents  Illustrative  of  American  History, 
1606-1775.  (ed.,  N.  Y.,  1899.)—  Select  Documents  of  United  States 
History,  1776-1801.  (ed.,  N.  Y.,  1898.)  —  Select  Statutes  and  Other 
Documents  Illustrative  of  the  History  of  the  United  States,  1861-1808. 
(ed.,N.Y.,  1903.) 

McKinley,  A.  E.,  Illustrated  Topics  for  American  History.     (Phila.,  1912.) 

McLaughlin,  A.  C.,  Confederation  and  Constitution.  (Amer.  Nation.,  N.  Y., 
1905.)  — Lewis  Cass.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.) 

Maclay,  E.  S.,  History  of  the  United  States  Navy.     (3  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1901-02.) 

McMaster,  J.  B.,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States.  (8  vols.,  N.  Y., 
1883-1913.) 

Merwin,  H.  C,  Aaron  Burr.  (Beacon  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1899.) —  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson. (Riverside  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1901.) 

Morse,  J.  T.,  Abraham  Lincoln.  —  Benjamin  Franklin. — John  Adams. — 
John  Quincy  Adams.  —  Thomas  Jefferson.  (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.) 

Munro,  W.  B.,  Government  of  American  Cities.  (N.  Y.,  1912.)  — Selections 
from  the  Federalist,  (ed.,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1914.) 

Nicolay,  J.  G.,  and  Hay,  John,  Abraham  Lincoln:  A  History.  (10  vols 
N.  Y.,  1890.) 

Olcott,  C.  S.,  Life  of  William  McKinley.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1916.) 

Parkman,  Francis,   Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.     (Rev.  ed.,  2  vols.,  Bost.,   1870.) 

—  Count  Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV.     (Bost.,  1877.) 

—  Half-Century  of  Conflict.     (2  vols,  Bust.,  1892.)—  Jesuits  in  North 
America.      (Bost.,  1867.)  —  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West. 
(Rev.  ed.,  Bost.,   1887.)  —  Old  Regime  in   Canada.     (Rev.    ed.,    Bost, 
I895-)  —  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World.      (Bost.,  1887.) 

Paxson,  F.  L.,  American  Civil  War.  (Home  Univ.  Lib.,  N.  Y.,  1911.)  — 
Last  American  Frontier.  (N.  Y.,  1910.) —  The  New  Nation.  (River- 
side Hist.,  Bost,  1915.) 

Phillips,  P.  C,  West  in  the  Diplomacy  of  the  Revolution^    (Urbana,  111.,  1914.) 
Ralph,  Julian,  Dixie;   or  Southern  Scenes  and  Sketches.     (N.  Y.,   1896.)  — 

Our  Great  West.     (N.  Y  ,  1893.) 

Rhodes,  J.  F.,  History  of  the  United  States.  (7  vols.,.N.  Y.,  1893-1906.) 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  Autobiography.  (N.  Y.,  1913.)  —  Gouverneur  Morris. 
(Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.)  — Naval  War  0/1812.  (3d  ed.,  N.  Y., 
1883.)  —  New  Nationalism.  (N.  Y.,  1910.) — Progressive  Principles. 
(N.  Y.,  1913.)  —  Strenuous  Life.  (N.  Y.,  1901.)  —  Thomas  H.  Benton. 
(Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.)  —  Winning  of  the  West.  (4  vols. 
N.Y.,  1889-96.) 

Schouler,  James,  Americans  of  1776.  (N.  Y.,  1906.) — History  of  the 
United  States.  (Rev.  ed.,  7  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1894-1913.)  —  Thomas  Jefferson. 
(Makers  of  Amer.,  N.  Y.,  1893.) 

Schurz,  Carl,  Henry  Clay.     (Amer.  Statesmen,  2  vols.,  Bost.,  1900.) 
Seawell,    M.     E.,     Decatur    and    Somers.     (N.  Y.,     1894.)  —  Little  Jarvis. 
(N.  Y.,  1 890.)  —  Midshipman  Paulding.     (N.  Y.,  1 89 1 . ) 


General  'Bibliography  xv 

Sample,    E.    C.,    American    History   and    Geographic    Conditions.      (Bost., 

1903-) 

Shepherd,  \V.  R.,  Historical  Atlas.     (Amer.  Hist.  Ser.,  N.  Y.,  1911.) 
Simms,    W.    G.,    Border    Beagles.     (Phila.,     1840.) — Cassique   of    Kiawah. 

(N.Y.,  iS6o.)—£utaw.   (N.  Y.,  1856.)  —  The  Forayers.   (N.  Y., 

l855-)  —  Catherine    Walton.      (Phila.,    1851.)  —  Mellichampe.     (N.  Y., 

1836.) — The   Partisan.     (N.  Y.,    1835.)  —  Richard   Hurdis.     (Phila., 

1838.)—  Vasconselos.     (N.Y.,  1856.) 
Sloane,  W.  M.,  French   War  and  the  Revolution,  1756-1783.     (Amer.  Hist. 

Sen,  N.  Y.,  1893.) 
Sparks,  E.  E.,  Expansion  of  the  American  People.     (Chic.,  1900. )  —  National 

Development,  1877-1885.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1907.) 
Stockton,  F.   R.,   Buccaneers  ami  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts.      (N.  Y.,   1898.)  — 

Kate  Bonnet.    •  (N.  Y.,  1902.) 

Taussig,  F.  W.,  Tari/  History  of  the  United  States.     (6th  ed.,  N.  Y.,  1914.) 
Thayer,  J.  B. ,  John  Marshall.     (Riverside  Biogr.,  Bost.,  1901.) 
Thayer,  W.  R.,  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Hay.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1915.) 
Thwaites,  R.  G.,    The  Colonies,  1492-1750.      (Epochs  of  Amer.  Hist.,  rev. 

ed.,  N.  Y.,  1910.)  —  Daniel  Boone.     (N.  Y.,  1902.)  —  Father  Marquette. 

(N.  Y.,  1902.)  —  France  in  America.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1905.) 
Titherington,  R.  H.,  Spanish-American  War  of  1898.     (N.  Y.,  1900.) 
Trowbridge,   John,    Samuel  Finley  Breese   Morse.     (Beacon    Biogr.,  Bost., 

1901.) 

Tyler,  L.  G.,  England  in  America.     (Amer.  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1904. ) 
Tyler,    M.   (.'.,    American    Literature  during  the    Colonial   Time.      (2  vols., 

N.  \ .,  1897.)  —  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution.     (2  vols., 

\.  Y.,  1897.)  — Patrick  Henry.     (Amer.  Statesmen,  Bost.,  1900.) 
Van   Tyne,    C.    H.,   American  Revolution.     (Amer.    Nation,   N.  Y.,    1905.) 

—  Loyalists  in  the  American  Revolution.     (N.  Y.,  1902.) 
Villard,  O.  G.,  John  Brown.     (Bost,  1910.) 
Von  Hoist,  Hermann,  John  C.   Calhoun.      (Amer.  Statesmen,  rev.  ed.,  Bost., 

1909.) 

Washington,  B.  T.,  Up  from  Slavery.     (N.  Y.,  1901.) 
Weeden,  W.  B.,  Early  Rhode  Island.     (N.  Y.,  1910.)  —  Economic  and  Social 

History  of  New  England.     (2  vols.,  Bost.,  1891.) 
Wendell,    Barrett,    Cotton   Mather.       (Makers   of  Amer.,  N.  Y.,    1891.)  — 

Literary  History  of  America.  (Library  of  Lit.  Hist.,  N.  Y.,  1900. ) 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  Complete  Poetical  Works.  (Cambridge  ed.,  Bost.,  1894.) 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  Division  and  Reunion.  (Epochs  of  Amer.  Hist.,  rev. 

ed.,  N.  Y.,   1910.)—  History  of  the  American  People.      (5  vols.,  N.  Y., 

1902.) — New  Freedom.     (N.  Y.,  1913.) 

Winsor,   Justin,    Cartier  to   Frontenac.      (Bost.,    1894.)  —  Christopher    Co- 
lumbus.    (Bost.,  1891.) — Memorial  History  of  Boston.      (4  vols.,  Bost, 

I 880-8 1 . )  —  Mississippi  Basin.     ( Bost. ,  1 895 . )  —  Narrative  and  Critical 

History  of  America.     (8  vols.,  Bost,  1886-89.)  —  Westward  Movement. 

(Bost.,  1897.) 
Woodburn,  J.  A.,  American   Politics.     (Rev.    ed.,  N.  Y.,  1914.) 


XVI 


Appendix  C 


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APPENDIX    D 

DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE 

(AGREED  TO,  JULY  4,  1776) 
[From  a  facsimile  of  the  original  parchment] 

IN  CONGRESS,  JULY  4,  1776 

THE    UNANIMOUS    DECLARATION    OF    THE    THIRTEEN    UNITED 
STATES    OF    AMERICA 


in  the  Course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people 
to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and 
to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to 
which  the  Laws  of  Nature  and  of  Nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect 
to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which 
impel  them  to  the  separation  J|L  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that 
all  men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain unalienable  Rights,  that  among  these  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  Happiness,  —  That  to  secure  these  rights,  Governments  are  instituted  among 
Men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  —  That  when- 
ever  any  Form  of  Government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  isthe  Right. 
of  the  teople  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  Government.lay-i, 
ing  itsTjoundation  _on  such  principles  atuT  organf/ing  its  powers  insuch  jbrrn^ 
asj;ij  thfm^shall  seem  roost  likely  to  "effecttheir  Gaiety  and  Happiness.  Pru- 
dence, indeed,  will  dictate  that  GoverrnrreTTts  long^sfa^mrreffsEoulcThot  be 
changed  for  light  and  transient  causes  :  and  accordingly  all  experience  hath 
shewn,  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable, 
than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accus- 
tomed. But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably 
the  same  Object  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  Despotism,  it 
is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  Government,  and  to  provide 
new  Guards  for  their  future  security.  —  Such  has  been  the  patient  sufferance 
of  these  Colonies  ;  and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter 
their  former  Systems  of  Government.  The  history  of  the  present  King  of 
Great  Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having  in 
direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  Tyranny  over  these  States. 
To  prove  this,  let  Facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world.  —  He  has  refused  las 
xviii 


Declaration  of  Independence  xix 

Assent  to  Laws,  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  public  good.  —  He 
has  forbidden  his  Governors  to  pass  Laws  of  immediate  and  pressing  impor- 
tance, unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his  Assent  should  be  obtained; 
and  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them.  —  He  has 
refused  to  pass  other  Laws  for  the  accommodation  of  large  districts  of  people, 
unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  Representation  in  the  Legis- 
lature, a  right  inestimable  to  them  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only.  —  He  has 
called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  distant 
from  the  depository  of  their  public  Records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing 
them  into  compliance  with  his  measures.  —  He  has  dissolved  Representative 
Houses  repeatedly,  for  opposing  with  manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the 
rights  of  the  people. —  He  has  refused  for  a  long  time,  after  such  dissolutions, 
to  cause  others  to  be  elected ;  whereby  the  Legislative  powers,  incapable  of 
Annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  People  at  large  for  their  exercise;  the  State 
remaining  in  the  mean  time  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  with- 
out, and  convulsions  within.  —  He  has  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  population 
of  these  States  ;  for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  Laws  for  Naturalization  of 
Foreigners  ;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migrations  hither,  and 
raising  the  conditions  of  new  Appropriations  of  Lands.  —  He  has  obstructed 
the  Administration  of  Justice,  by  refusing  his  Assent  to  Laws  for  establishing 
Judiciary  powers.  — He  has  made  Judges  dependent  on  his  Will  alone,  for  the 
tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries.  —  He  has 
erected  a  multitude  of  New  Offices,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of  Officers  to  har- 
rass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  substance.  —  He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times 
of  peace,  Standing  Armies  without  the  Consent  of  our  legislatures.  —  He  has 
affected  to  render  the  Military  independent  of  and  superior  to  the  Civil 
power.  —  He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign 
to  our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws  ;  giving  his  Assent  to 
their  Acts  of  pretended  Legislation  :  —  For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed 
troops  among  us :  —  For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  Trial,  from  punishment  for 
any  Murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  Inhabitants  of  these  States:  — 
For  cutting  off  our  Trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world :  —  For  imposing  Taxes 
on  us  without  our  Consent:  —  For  depriving  us  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits 
of  Trial  by  Jury :  —  For  transporting  us  beyond  Seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended 
offences :  —  For  abolishing  the  free  System  of  English  Laws  in  a  neighbouring 
Province,  establishing  therein  an  Arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its 
Boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  intro- 
ducing the  same  absolute  rule  into  these  Colonies:  —  For  taking  away  our 
Charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  Laws,  and  altering  fundamentally  the 
Forms  of  our  Governments :  —  For  suspending  our  own  Legislatures,  and  declar- 
ing themselves  invested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  — 
He  has  abdicated  Government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of  his  Protection  and 
waging  War  against  us.  —  He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  Coasts, 
burnt  our  towns,  and  destroyed  the  Lives  of  our  people.  —  He  is  at  this  time 
transporting  large  Armies  of  foreign  Mercenaries  to  compleat  the  works  of 
death,  desolation  and  tyranny,  already  begun  with  circumstances  of  Cruelty 
&  perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally  unworthy 


xx  Appendix  D 

the  Head  of  a  civilized  nation.  —  He  has  constrained  our  fellow  Citizens  taken 
Captive  on  the  high  Seas  to  bear  Arms  against  their  Country,  to  become  the 
executioners  of  their  friends  and  Brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their 
Hands.  —  He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has  en- 
deavoured to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian 
Savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare,  is  an  undistinguished  destruction  of 
all  ages,  sexes  and  conditions.  In  every  stage  of  these  Oppressions  We  have 
Petitioned  for  Redress  in  the  most  humble  terms :  Our  repeated  Petitions 
have  been  answered  only  by  repeated  injury.  A  Prince,  whose  character  is 
thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a  Tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler 
of  a  free  people.  Nor  have  We  been  wanting  in  attentions  to  our  Brinish 
brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from  time  to  time  of  attempts  by  their 
legislature  to  extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  re- 
minded them  of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here. 
We  have  appealed  to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  con- 
jured them  by  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred  to  disavow  these  usurpations, 
which,  would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connections  and  correspondence.  They 
too  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We  must, 
therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity,  which  denounces  our  Separation,  and  hold 
them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  Enemies  in  War,  in  Peace  Friends.  — 

W.t,  tfjrrtforc,  the  Representatives  of  the  unttcB  Statra  of  flnterica,  in  General 
Congress,  Assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the 
rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  Name,  and  by  Authority  of  the  good 
People  of  these  Colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That  these  United 
Colonies  are,  and  of  Right  ought  to  be,  JFrtc  ano  Entotpenomt  Statca;  that  they 
are  Absolved  from  all  Allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political 
connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britain,  is  and  ought  to  be 
totally  dissolved  ;  and  that  as  Free  and  Independent  States,  they  have  full 
Power  to  levy  War,  conclude  Peace,  contract  Alliances,  establish  Commerce, 
and  to  do  all  other  Acts  and  Things  which  Independent  States  may  of  right 
do.  I-  And  for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the 
protection  of  divine  Providence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  Lives, 
our  Fortunes  and  our  sacred  Honor. 

JOHN   HANCOCK. 

[Signatures  of  representatives  of  the  thirteen  States,  affixed  under  date  of 
August  2,  1776.] 


APPENDIX    E 

CONSTITUTION    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 
OF    AMERICA   (1787) l 

(SUBMITTED  SEPT.  17,  1787  ;  IN  FORCE  APRIL  30,  1789) 

[The  following  text  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  including  the  Amendments 
thereto,  is  reprinted  with  the  accompanying  notes  from  American  History 
Leaflets,  No.  8,  for  which  the  original  parchment  rolls  were  compared.] 

WK  THE  PEOPLE  of  the  United  States,  in  Order  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union, 
establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  Tranquility,  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fence, promote  the  general  Welfare,  and  secure  the  Blessings  of  Liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  Posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  CONSTITUTION 
fur  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE.  I. 

SECTION,  i.  All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives. 

SECTION.  2.  [§  i.j  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  Mem- 
bers chosen  every  second  Year  by  the  People  of  the  several  States,  and  the 
Electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  Qualifications  requisite  for  Electors,  of 
the  most  numerous  Branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

[§  2.]  No  Person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
Age  of  twenty  five  Years,  and  been  seven  Years  a  Citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which  lie 
shall  be  chosen. 

[§  3-]  Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to  their 
respective  Numbers,  [which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole 
Number  of  free  Persons,]  '2  including  those  bound  to  Service  for  a  Term  of 
Years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  [three  fifths  of  all  other  Persons].8 
The  actual  Enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  Years  after  the  first 
Meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent 

1  There  is  no  title  in  the  original  manuscript. 

2  Modified  by  Fourteenth  Amendment. 

8  Superseded  by  Fourteenth  Amendment. 
1    xxi 


xx ii  Appendix  E 

Term  of  ten  Years,  in  such  Manner  as  they  shall  by  Law  direct.  The  Number 
of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  Thousand,  but  each 
State  shall, have  at  Least  one  Representative;  [and  until  such  enumeration 
shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  chuse  three, 
Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one,  Connecti- 
cut five,  New- York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania  eight,  Delaware  one, 
Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five,  South  Carolina  five,  and 
Georgia  three.]1 

[§  4.]  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  Representation  from  any  State,  the 
Executive  Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of  Election  to  fill  such  Va- 
cancies. 

[§  5-]  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  chuse  their  Speaker  and  other 
Officers  ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Impeachment. 

SECTION.  3.  [§  i.]  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof,-  for  six  Years  ; 
and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  Vote. 

[§  2.]  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  Consequence  of  the  first 
Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three  Classes.  The 
Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  Class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  Expiration  of 
the  second  Year,  of  the  second  Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  fourth  Year, 
and  of  the  third  Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  sixth  Year,  so  that  one  third 
may  be  chosen  every  second  Year;  and  if  Vacancies  happen  by  Resignation, 
or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State,  [the  Executive 
thereof  may  make  temporary  Appointments  until  the  next  Meeting  of  the 
Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  Vacancies.]  '2 

[§  3-]  No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age 
of  thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be 
chosen. 

[§  4.]  The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of  the 
Senate,  but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

[§  5.]  The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Officers,  and  also  a  President  pro 
tempore,  in  the  Absence  of  the  Vice  President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise  the 
Office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

[§  6.]  The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to  try  all  Impeachments.  When 
sitting  for  that  Purpose,  they  shall  be  on  Oath  or  Affirmation.  When  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside:  And 
no  Person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  Concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the 
Members  present. 

[§  7.]  Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  Office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  Office  of  honor, 
Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United  States :  but  the  Party  convicted  shall  never- 
theless be  liable  and  subject  to  Indictment,  Trial,  Judgment  and  Punish- 
ment, according  to  Law. 

SECTION.  4.  [§  I.]    The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  holding  Elections  for 

1  Temporary  clause.  2  Superseded  by  Seventeenth  Amendment. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States         xxiii 

Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  lie  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legis- 
lature thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time  by  Law  make  or  alter  such 
Regulations,  except  as  to  the  Places  of  chusing  Senators. 

[  §  2.]  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  Year,  and  such 
Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  Law 
appoint  a  different  Day. 

SECTION.  5.  [§  i.]  Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the  Elections,  Returns 
and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Members,  and  a  Majority  of  each  shall  consti- 
tute a  Quorum  to  do  Business;  but  a  smaller  Number  may  adjourn  from  day 
to  day,  and  may  be  authori/.ed  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  Members, 
in  such  Manner,  and  under  such  Penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

[§  2.]  Each  House  may  determine  the  Rules  of  its  Proceedings,  punish  its 
Members  for  Disorderly  Behaviour,  and,  with  the  Concurrence  of  two  thirds, 
expel  a  Member. 

[§3.]  Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its  Proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  Parts  as  may  in  their  Judgment  require 
Secrecy;  and  the  Yeas  and  Nays  of  the  Members  of  either  House  on  any 
question  shall,  at  the  Desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  Present,  be  entered  on  the 
Journal. 

[§  4.]  Neither  House,  during  the  Session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the 
consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  Place 
than  that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be  sitting. 

SKCTION.  6.  [§  i.]  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  Com- 
pensation for  their  Services,  to  be  ascertained  by  Law,  and  paid  out  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  Cases,  except  Treason,  Felony 
and  Breach  of  the  Peace,  be  privileged  from  Arrest  during  their  Attendance 
at  the  Session  of  their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  same;  and  for  any  Speech  or  Debate  in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

[§  2.]  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  Time  for  which  he 
was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  Office  under  the  Authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  Emoluments  whereof  shall  have 
been  encreased  during  such  time;  and  no  Person  holding  any  Office  under  the 
United  States,  shall  be  a  Member  of  either  House  during  his  Continuance  in 
Office. 

SKCTION.  7.  [§  i.]  All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  Amendments 
as  on  other  Bills. 

[§  2.]  Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States:  If  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it, 
with  his  Objections  to  that  House  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall 
enter  the  Objections  at  large  on  their  Journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If 
after  such  Reconsideration  two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the 
Bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  Objections,  to  the  other  House,  by  which 
it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two  thirds  of  that  House, 
it  shall  become  a  Law.  But  in  all  such  Cases  the  Votes  of  both  I  louses  shall 
HART'S  NKW  AMER.  HIST.  —  41 


xxiv  Appendix  E 

be  determined  by  yeas  and  Nays,  and  the  Names  of  the  Persons  voting  for  and 
against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  Journal  of  each  House  respectively.  If 
any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  Days  (Sundays  ex- 
cepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  Law,  in 
like  Manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  Adjournment 
prevent  its  Return,  in  which  Case  it  shall  not  be  a  Law. 

[§  3-]  Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to  which  the  Concurrence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  question 
of  Adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States;  and 
before  the  same  shall  take  Effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disap- 
proved by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  according  to  the  Rules  and  Limitations  prescribed  in  the  Case 
of  a  bill. 

SECTION.  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  [§  i.]  To  lay  and  collect  Taxes, 
Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises,  to  pay  the  Debts  and  provide  for  the  common 
Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the  United  States:  but  all  Duties,  Imposts 
and  Excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States;1 

[§  2.]    To  borrow  Money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

[§  3-1  To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

[§  4.]  To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of  Naturalization,  and  uniform  Laws 
on  the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States; 

[§  5-]  To  com  Money,  regulate  the  Value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  Coin,  and 
fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures; 

[§  6.]  To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  Securities  and 
current  Coin  of  the  United  States; 

[§  7.]    To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post  Roads; 

[§  8.]  To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and  useful  Arts,  by  securing  for 
limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Inventors  the  exclusive  Right  to  their  respective 
Writings  and  Discoveries; 

[§  9.]    To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  Court; 

[§  IO.]  To  define  and  punish  Piracies  and  Felonies  committed  on  the  high 
Seas,  and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations; 

[§  II.]  To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal,  and  make 
Rules  concerning  Captures  on  Land  and  Water; 

[§  12.]  To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no  Appropriation  of  Money  to 
that  Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than  two  Years; 

[§  13.]    To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy; 

[§  14.]  To  make  Rules  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  Forces; 

[§  'SO  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to  execute  the  Laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  Insurrections  and  repel  Invasions; 

[§  1 6.]  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  Militia, 
and  for  governing  such  Part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  Service  of  the 
United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  Appointment  of  the 

i  Extended  by  Sixteenth  Amendment. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States          xxv 

Officers,  and  the  Authority  of  training  the  Militia  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress; 

[§  1 7.]  To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation,  in  all  Cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles  square)  as  may,  by  Cession  of  particular 
States,  and  the  Acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  Seat  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  Authority  over  all  Places  purchased 
by  the  Consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for 
the  Erection  of  Forts,  Magazines,  Arsenals,  dock-Yards,  and  other  needful 
liuildings;  —And 

[§  18.]  To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers,  and"  all  other  rowers  vested  by"this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  Department 
or  Officer  thereof. 

SKCTION.  9.  [§  i.]  [The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons  as  any  of 
the  Stales  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited 
by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but 
a  Tax  or  duty  maybe  imposed  on  such  Importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars 
for  each  Person.]1 

[§  2.]  The  Privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Invasion  the  public  Safety  may  require  it. 

[§  3-]    N°  Bill  of  Attainder  or  ex  post  facto  Law  shall  be  passed.2 

[§  4.]  No  Capitation,  or  other  direct,  Tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  Propor- 
tion to  the  Census  or  Enumeration  herein  before  directed  to  be  taken. 

[§  5-1    No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles  exported  from  any  State. 

[§  6.]  No  Preference  shall  be  given  by  any  Regulation  of  Commerce  or 
Revenue  to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another :  nor  shall  Vessels 
bound  to,  or  from,  one  State  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  Duties  in 
another. 

[§  7.]  No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  Consequence  of 
Appropriations  made  by  Law;  and  a  regular  Statement  and  Account  of  the 
Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  all  public  Money  shall  be  published  from  time 
to  time.  i 

[§  8.]  No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States :  And  no 
Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit  or  Trust  under  them,  shall,  without  the 
Consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  Emolument,  Office,  or  Title,  of 
any  kind  whatever,  from  any  King,  Prince,  or  foreign  State.8 

SECTION.  10.  [§  i.]  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty,  Alliance,  or  Con- 
federation; grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal;  coin  Money;  emit  Kills 
of  Credit;  make  any  Thing  but  gold  and  silver  Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment 
of  Debts  ;  pass  any  Bill  of  Attainder,  ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law  impairing  the 
Obligation  of  Contracts,  or  grant  any  Title  of  Nobility. 

[§  2.]  No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  Imposts 
or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  Laws :  and  the  net  Produce  of  all  Duties  and 

1  Temporary  provision. 

2  Extended  by  the  first  eight  Amendments. 

3  Extended  by  Ninth  and  Tenth  Amendments. 


xxvi  Appendix  E 

Imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  Imports  or  Exports,  shall  he  for  the  Use  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States;  and  all  such  Laws  shall  be  subject  to  the 
Revision  and  Controul  of  the  Congress. 

[§  3-]  ^>°  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  Duty  of 
Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  or  Ships  of  War  in  time  of  Peace,  enter  into  any 
Agreement  or  Compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  Power,  or 
engage  in  War,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  Danger  as  will 
not  admit  of  delay.1 

ARTICLE.  II. 

SECTION.  I.  [§  I.]  The  executive  Power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  lie  shall  hold  his  Office  during  the  Term  of  four 
Years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice  President,  chosen  for  the  same  Term,  be 
elected,  as  follows 

[§  2.]  Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  Manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the  whole  Number  of  Senators 
and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress :  but 
no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  Person  holding  an  Office  of  Trust  or  Profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  Elector. 

[The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  Ballot  for 
two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  Inhabitant  of  the  same 
State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  List  of  all  the  Persons  voted 
for,  and  of  the  Number  of  Votes  for  each  ;  which  List  they  shall  sign  and 
certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate 
shall,  in  the  Presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all 
the  Certificates,  and  the  Votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  Person  having  the 
greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  Number  be  a  Major- 
ity of  the  whole  Number  of  Electors  appointed;  and  if  there  be  more  than 
one  who  have  such  Majority,  and  have  an  equal  Number  of  Votes,  then  the 
House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately  chuse  by  Ballot  one  of  them  for 
President  ;  and  if  no  Person  have  a  Majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on 
the  List  the  said  House  shall  in  like  Manner  chuse  the  President.  But  in 
chusing  the  President,  the  Votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  Representation 
from  each  State  having  one  Vote  ;  A  quorum  for  this  Purpose  shall  consist  of 
a  Member  or  Members  from  two  thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  Majority  of  all 
the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  Choice.  In  every  Case,  after  the  Choice  of 
the  President,  the  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  of  the  Elec- 
tors shall  be  the  Vice  President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more 
who  have  equal  Votes,  the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them  by  Ballot  the  Vice 
President.]2 

[§  3-]  The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time  of  chusing  the  Electors,  and 
the  Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  Votes  ;  which  Day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States. 

1  Extended  by  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth  Amendments. 

2  Superseded  by  Twelfth  Amendment. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States        xxvii 

[§  4.]  No  Person  except  a  natural  born  Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of  the  United 
States,  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  he  eligible  to 
the  Office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  Person  be  eligible  to  that  Office  who 
shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of  thirty-five  Years,  and  been  fourteen 
Years  a  Resident  within  the  United  States. 

[§  5.]  In  Case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President  from  Office,  or  of  his  Death, 
Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge  the  Powers  and  Duties  of  the  said  Office, 
the  Same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice  President,  and  the  Congress  may  by  Law 
provide  for  the  Case  of  Removal,  Death,  Resignation,  or  Inability,  both  of 
the  President  and  Vice  President,  declaring  what  Officer  shall  then  act  as 
President,  anil  such  Officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  Disability  be 
removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

[§  6.]  The  President  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  his  Services,  a  Com- 
pensation, which  shall  neither  be  encreased  nor  diminished  during  the  Period 
for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that 
Period  any  other  Emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

[§  ?•]  Bcf°re  he  enter  on  the  Execution  of  his  Office,  he  shall  take  the  fol- 
lowing Oath  or  Affirmation  :  — 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  Office  of 
"  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  Ability,  preserve, 
"  protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

SECTION.  2.  [§  I.]  The  President  shall  be  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Militia  of  the  several  States,  when 
called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the  United  States;  he  may  require  the  Opin- 
ion, in  writing,  of  the  principal  Officer  in  each  of  the  executive  Departments, 
upon  any  Subject  relating  to  the  Duties  of  their  respective  Offices,  and  he 
shall  have  Power  to  grant  Reprieves  and  Pardons  for  Offences  against  the 
United  States,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

[§  2.]  He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the 
Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur; 
and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate, 
shall  appoint  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the 
supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  Appoint- 
ments are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established 
by  Law :  but  the  Congress  may  by  Law  vest  the  Appointment  of  such  inferior 
Officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  Courts  of  Law, 
or  in  the  I  leads  of  Departments. 

[§  3.]  The  President  shall  have  Power  to  fill  up  all  Vacancies  that  may 
happen  during  the  Recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Commissions  which  shall 
expire  at  the  End  of  their  next  Session. 

SECTION.  3.  lie  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  Information 
of  the  State  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  Consideration  such  Meas- 
ures as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient;  he  may,  on  extraordinary 
Occasions,  convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  Case  of  Disagree- 
ment between  them,  with  Respect  to  the  Time  of  Adjournment,  he  may 
adjourn  them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive  Am- 
bassadors and  other  public  Ministers;  he  shall  take  Care  that  the  Laws  be 


xxviii  Appendix  E 

faithfully  executed,   and   shall   Commission  all    the   Officers   of  the    United 
States. 

SECTION.  4.  The  President,  Vice  President,  and  all  civil  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  Office  on  Impeachment  for,  and  Con- 
viction of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other  high  Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE.    III. 

SECTION.  I.  The  judicial  Power  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  vested  in 
one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may  from  time 
to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior 
Courts,  shall  hold  their  Offices  during  good  Behaviour,  and  shall,  at  stated 
Times,  receive  for  their  Services,  a  Compensation,  which  shall  not  be  dimin- 
ished during  their  Continuance  in  Office. 

SECTION.  2.  [§  I.]  The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in  Law 
and  Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  Laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  Authority;  — to  all 
Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls; — to  all 
Cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  Jurisdiction; — to  Controversies  to  which 
the  United  States  shall  be  a  Party;  — to  Controversies  between  two  or  more 
States;  — between  a  State  and  Citizens  of  another  State;  J  —  between  Citi/.ens 
of  different  States,  —  between  Citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming  Lands 
under  Grants  of  different  States,  and  between  a  State,  or  the  Citizens  thereof, 
and  foreign  States,  Citizens  or  Subjects. 

[§  2.]  In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Con- 
suls, and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  Party,  the  supreme  Court  shall  have 
original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  Cases  before  mentioned,  the  supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  Jurisdiction,  both  as  to  Law  and  Fact,  with  such 
Exceptions,  and  under  such  Regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

[§  3-]  The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment,  shall  be  by 
Jury;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  Crimes  shall 
have  been  committed;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  State,  the  Trial 
shall  be  at  such  Place  or  Places  as  the  Congress  may  by  Law  have  directed. 

SECTION.  3.  [§  I.]  Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  War  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  Enemies,  giving  them  Aid 
and  Comfort.  No  Person  shall  be  convicted  of  Treason  unless  on  the  Testi- 
mony of  two  Witnesses  to  the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession  in  open  Court. 

[§  2.]  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  declare  the  Punishment  of  Treason, 
but  no  Attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corruption  of  Blood,  or  Forfeiture 
except  during  the  Life  of  the  Person  attainted. 

ARTICLE.   IV. 

SECTION,  i.  Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  pub- 
lic Acts,  Records,  and  judicial  Proceedings  of  every  other  State.  And  the 
Congress  may  by  general  Laws  prescribe  the  Manner  in  which  such  Acts, 
Records  and  Proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  Effect  thereof. 

l  Limited  by  Eleventh  Amendment. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States          xxix 

SECTION.  2.  [§  I.]  The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  Privi- 
leges and  Immunities  of  Citizens  in  the  several  States.1 

[§  2.]  A  Person  charged  in  any  State  with  Treason,  Felony,  or  other  Crime, 
who  shall  flee  from  Justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall  on  Demand 
of  the  executive  Authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up, 
to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  Jurisdiction  of  the  Crime. 

[§  3-]  [No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one  State,  under  the  Laws 
thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  Consequence  of  any  Law  or  Kegula- 
tion  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  Service  or  Labour,  but  shall  be  delivered 
up  on  Claim  of  the  Party  to  whom  such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due.]2 

SECTION.  3.  [§  I.]  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  Jurisdiction 
of  any  other  State ;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  Junction  of  two  or  more 
States,  or  Parts  of  States,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States 
concerned  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

[§  2.]  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
Rules  and  Regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other  Property  belonging  to 
the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
Prejudice  any  Claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SECTION.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union 
a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against 
Invasion;  and  on  Application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when 
the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened)  against  domestic  Violence. 

ARTICLE.   V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem  it  necessary, 
shall  propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on  the  Application  of  the 
Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  Convention  for 
proposing  Amendments,  which,  in  either  Case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  Intents  and 
Purposes,  as  Part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of 
three  fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conventions  in  three  fourths  thereof, 
as  the  one  or  the  other  Mode  of  Ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress; 
Provided  [that  no  Amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  Year  One 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and 
fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth  Section  of  the  first  Article;  and]  3  that  no  State, 
without  its  Consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE.   VI. 

[§  I.]  All  Debts  contracted  and  Engagements  entered  into,  before  the 
Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States 
under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Confederation.4 

1  Extended  by  Fourteenth  Amendment. 

2  Superseded  by  Thirteenth  Amendment  so  far  as  it  relates  to  slaves. 

3  Temporary  provision. 

4  Extended  bv  Fourteenth  Amendment,  Section  4. 


xxx  Appendix  E 

[§  2.]  This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall 
be  made  in  Pursuance  thereof  ;  and  all  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be 
made,  under  the  Authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme 
Law  of  the  Land;  and  the  Judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby, 
any  Thing  in  the  Constitution  or  Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

[§  30  The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  Officers, 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  Oath  or 
Affirmation,  to  support  this  Constitution  ;  but  no  religious  Test  shall  ever  be 
required  as  a  Qualification  to  any  Office  or  public  Trust  under  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE.    VII. 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  shall  be  sufficient  for  the 
Establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratifying  the  Same. 

DONK  in  Convention  by  the  Unanimous  Con- 

FM          r»u  scnt  °f  ™e  States  present  the  Seventeenth  Day 

[Note  of  the  draughtsman  ¥  September  in  theF  Year  of  our  Lord  one 

"  °      m  " 


hes      p 

Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America 

WIIIIAM   TACKSON  the  Twelfth    In   Witness   whereof  We   have 

LLIAM  JACK  ,ON.  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

Go  WASHINGTON  — 
Presldt  and  deputy  from  Virginia. 

[Signatures  of  members  of  the  Convention.]1 

[AMENDMENTS.] 

ARTICLES  in  addition  to  and  Amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  proposed  by  Congress,  and  ratified  by  the  Legis- 
latures of  the  several  States,  pursuant  to  the  fifth  Article  of  the  original 
Constitution.2 

[ARTICLE   I.]3 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  pro- 
hibiting the  free  exercise  thereof  ;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of 
the  press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition 
the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

[ARTICLE   II.] 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  State, 
the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall  not  be  infringed. 

1  These  signatures  have  no  other  legal  force  than  that  of  attestation. 

2  This  heading  appears  only  in  the  joint  resolution   submitting  the   first   ten 
amendments. 

3  In  the  original  manuscripts  the  first  twelve  amendments  have  no  numbers. 


Constitution  of  the  United  ^States          xxxi 


[ARTICLE   III.] 

No  Soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  he  quartered  in  any  house,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed 
by  law. 

[ARTICLE   IV.] 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and 
effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated,  and 
no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  Oath  or 
affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the 
persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

[ARTICLE  V.] 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise  infamous 
crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand  Jury,  except  in  cases 
arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  Militia,  when  in  actual  service  in 
time  of  War  or  public  danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same 
offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in 
any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  n  jr  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty, 
or  property,  without  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken 
for  public  use,  without  just  compensation. 

[ARTICLE  VI.] 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy 
and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  wherein  the 
crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previously  as- 
certained by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusa- 
tion ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  ;  to  have  compulsory 
procesl""for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  Assistance  of 
Counsel  for  his  defence. 

[ARTICLE   VII.] 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed  twenty 
dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved,  and  no  fact  tried  by  a 
jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United  States,  than 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

[ARTICLE   VIII.] 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor  cruel 
and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

[ARTICLE   IX.] 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 


xxxii  Appendix  E 

[ARTICLE   X.] 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  pro- 
hibited by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the 
people.1 

[ARTICLE   XI.]2 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to 
any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United 
States  by  Citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  Citizens  or  Subjects  of  any  foreign 
State. 

[ARTICLE   XII.]  3 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
President  and  Vice- President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  same  state  with  themselves  ;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the 
person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as 
Vice-President,  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as 
President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number 
of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed 
to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President 
of  the  Senate  ;  — The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Senate  and  Mouse  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes 
shall  then  be  counted  ;  — The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for 
President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  Electors  appointed ;  and  if  no  person  have  such  majority,  then 
from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three  on  the  list 
of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose 
immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the 
votes  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each  state  having  one 
vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from 
two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to 
a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President 
whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day 
of  March  next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  President.  —  The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President;  shall  be  the 
Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Electors 
appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  num- 
bers on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President ;  a  quorum  for  the 
purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person 

1  Amendments  First  to  Tenth  appear  to  have  been  in  force  from  Nov.  3,  1791. 

2  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  Jan.  8,   1798. 

3  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  Sept.  25,  1804. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States        xxxiii 

constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE   XIII.i 

SECTION   I.    Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punish-  I  2. 
ment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist 
within  the   United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction.     SEC- 
TION  2.     Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article   by  appropriate 
legislation. 

ARTICLE   XIV.2 

SECTION  i.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject 
to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State 
wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall 
abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  nor 
shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due 
process  of  law ;  nor  deny  to  any  person  withi"  iti  jnrfadifiti"n  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws? 

SECTION  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  persons 
in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at 
any  election  for  the  choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  Executive  and  Judicial  officers 
of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the 
male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in 
rebellion,  or  other  crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced 
in  the  proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the 
whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

SECTION  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Congress, 
or  elector  of  President  and  Vice  President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  military, 
under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an 
oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a 
member  of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any 
State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in 
insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the 
enemies  thereof.  But  Congress  may  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House, 
remove  such  disability. 

SECTION  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States,  authorized 
by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and  bounties  for 
services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned. 
But  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt 
or  'obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United 

1  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  Dec.  18,  1865.  Bears  the  unnecessary  approval  of 
the  President. 

3  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  July  28,  1868. 


xxxiv  Appendix  E 

States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave ;    but  all  smh 
debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 

SECTION  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

ARTICLE  XV.1 

SECTION  i.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be 
denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  account  of  race, 
color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SECTION  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  ap- 
propriate legislation. 

ARTICLE  XVI.2 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes  on  incomes,  from 
whatever  source  derived,  without  apportionment  among  the  several  States, 
and  without  regard  to  any  census  or  enumeration. 

ARTICLE   XVII.3 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  Senators  from 
each  State,  elected  by  the  people  thereof,  for  six  years  ;  and  each  Senator 
shall  have  one  vote.  The  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications 
requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  legislatures. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  of  any  State  in  the  Senate, 
the  executive  authority  of  such  State  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such 
vacancies :  Provided,  That  the  legislature  of  any  State  shall  empower  the 
executive  thereof  to  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  people  fill  the 
vacancies  by  election  as  the  legislature  may  direct. 

This  amendment  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  affect  the  election  or  term 
of  any  Senator  chosen  before  it  becomes  valid  as  part  of  the  Constitution. 

I  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  Mar.  30, 1870. 
*  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  F'eb.  25, 1913. 
<  Proclaimed  to  be  in  force  May  31,  1913. 


INDEX 


Diacritic  marks :  a  as  in  late ;  u  as  in  fnt ;  a  as  in  far ;  u  as  In  cure  ;  a  as  in  last ;  a  as 
in  fall :  P.  vh  :i-  in  funk,  chaxm  ;  f  as  in  ice  \  e  as  in  me  ;  e  as  in  met,  berry ;  fi  as  in  i-eil ; 
r-  a>  iii  ?«•/•;/(  ;  g  as  in  gem  ;  g  as  in  go ;  i  as  in  tin ;  I  as  in  jtolice  ;  N,  the  French  nasal ; 
r>  us  in  >i<itf  ;  c"i  as  in  not :  6  as  in  *<»«  ;  n  as  in  for ;  g  as  in  do  ;  s  as  in  ntim  \  fh  as  in  ttie  ; 
fi  as  in  tune  \  u  as  in  MM/  ;  n  as  in  rude  (=  <_>) ;  u  as  in  /uM ;  u  =  French  u ;  y  as  in  my. 
Single  italic  letters  are  silent. 


A.  B.C.  powers,  627 

Abolitionists,  317,  318,  319,  382,  412,  431 

in  election  of  1844.  341 

underground  railroad,  351,  384 
Academies.  -.'Hi 
Aca'dia,  8s.  89,  97,  100 

Acts  of  Trade,  61,  123  ;  see  Navigation  Acts 
Adalr,  James,  118 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  467,  475 
Adams,  .lolin,  126,  128,   133,    151,   lf>9,  228- 
229.  233 

Declaration  of  Independence.  154,  155 

on  democracy,  200 

President,  228-282,  289 

Vi.-e  President,  209 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  280.  292,  300-301,  303, 
316,  319,  361 

Secretary  of  State,  290,  291,  299 
Adams,  Samuel.  131.  1*5,  135,  153 
Aeroplane,  642,  650 
Agriculture,  tiee  Farming 
A-e«i-nal'do,  561,  564,  567 
A/.v-la-rtia-peW.  Peace  of,  97 
Al-a-ba'ma,  274.  276.  4(16,  491,  xri 
A/n/i,imn,  44<i.  441.  499 
A'lfi-mo,  :W4 

Alaska.  2s9.  49:^-494,  530,  570,  612,  634 
Al'ba-ny  (al'-),  40,  61 
Albany  'Congress,  99,  158 
Albany  Regency,  304 
Al'be-marle  settlement.  62 
Alpeciras  (al-je-se'ras),  (i07 
Al'fter.  Sec.,  562 
Al  iron'niiin  Indians,  13.  38 
Alien  and  Sedition  acts.  230-231 
A'MoM-fiy.  Father,  42 
Al  ta-iiia  ha'  (al->  Uiver,  63 
Am'a-<las,  29  " 

Amendments,  to  Articles  of  Confederation, 
181 


Amendments,  to  federal  Constitution,  211- 

212,  283,  486,  488,  491,  495,  625 
America,  origin  of  name.  23 
American  Federation  of  Ubor,  549 
American  party,  391 
American  system,  of  Clay,  277,  802 
Amnesty,  479,  4S7,  495 
Anderson,  Major  Robert.  406,  412,  415 
A  n'drr-on  ville  prison,  478 
An'dre,  Major  John.  147 
An'driis,  Sir  Kdmund,  62,  67 
Annap'olis  (Md.)  Convention,  182 
Annapolis,  N.  S..  88 
An'tho-ny,  Susan  B..  311 
An-t/e'tam.  battle,  447 
Anti-Federalists,  187,  188,  219 
Antimasonic  party,  303 
Antino'mians,  53 
Antirent  disturbances,  338 
Antislavery,  174.  275.  3lMi.  319,  407 
A-pa'chfi  Indians,  588 
Appalachian  Mountains,  8,  438 
Appomat'tox,  459 
Architecture,    204;    see    Church    buildings, 

and  Houses 
Ar'gall,  39 

Argentina,  see  La  Plata 
Aristocracy,  200 
Arizona,  348,  506,  582,  xvl 
Ar'kan-sa*,  352,  416,  485,  xvl 
Arma'dar  Spanish,  80 
Armstrong,  Sec.,  260 
Army,  in  Civil  War,  439,  475 

In  Revolution,  137,  189,  141 

in  Spanish  War,  662 

in  War  of  1812,  2.55.  259.  260 

in  war  with  Germany.  019-650 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  442,  444.  44C,  44S,  451, 

i'»8.  459 
Arnold,  Benedict,  137,  143,  147 


XXXVI 


Index 


A-roos'took  War,  339 

Art,  203 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  523 

Articles  of  Confederation,  158-159,  168,  174, 

175,  178,  180 

amendments  proposed,  181 
Articles  of  Confederation,  New  England,  52- 

53,  158 

As/bury,  Francis,  204 
Ash'burton  treaty,  889 
Asia,  medieval  trade  with,  3,  4,  18 
A'-»i<"n'to,  121 
Assembly,  colonial,  45,  80 
Associated  Press,  314 
Association  of  1774.  183 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  196,  245,  375,  377 
Asto'ria,  Oregon,  245,  258,  288 
As'trolabe,  2 
Asylums,  310 
Athletics,  425 
Atlanta,  454 

Austin,  Moses  and  Stephen  F.,  333 
Australian  ballot,  644 
Ayllon  (Il-yon),  dfi,  24 
A-zorf's/,  4 
Az'tecs,  13,  24 

Backwoods'men,  177 

Bacon,  Nathaniel,  64 

Bain  bridge,  239 

Baker  Island,  571,  685 

Bal-bo'a,  23 

Bal'ti-more  (city),  193,  258,  416 

Baltimore,  Lord,  49 

Bancroft,  George,  314,  427 

Bank,  United  States,  216-218,  295 

second,  297-298,  326-3'27,  331,  333 
Banks,  national,  214,  469,  511 

savings,  511 

state,  198,  333,  876,  470 
Baptists,  51 ;  nee  Churches 
Barlow,  Joel,  202 
Bar'low*,  29 

Battle  above  the  Clouds,  450 
B<(it  Psalm  Book,  77 
B«y'ow  Mun-chac',  240 
Beane,  William,  160 
Bear  Flag  Republic,  347 
Beau're-gard  (b<V-),  ('.on  .  415,  441 
Bel'/fcnap,  William  W..  512 
Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  514 
Bell,  John,  402 
Benton,  Thomas  H.,  325,  341 
Ben'tonville,  battle,  458 
Be'ring  Sea  controversy,  570 
Berkeley,  59,  64,  75 
Ber'lin  Decree,  24S 


Bes'se-mer  steel,  513 

Biddle,  Nicholas,  326 

Bill  of  Rights,  157,  188 

Bi-lox'i,  94 

Birney,  James  G.,  317,  341 

Bison  (butfaloes),  9,  11,  25,  877,  579 

Black,  Jeremiah,  406 

Black  Hawk  War,  3C1 

Black  Hills,  506,  580 

Slack.  Warrior,  888 

Blaine,  James  G.,  519,  528,  524,  525,  526,  529 

Blair,  Montgomery,  414 

Bland,  Hichard  P.,  522 

Blockade,  224,  435,  467,  468,  629 

Blockade  runners,  440,  455 

Bloomer,  Mrs.,  811 

Board  of  Trade,  67,  84,  99 

Bol'i-var,  Gen.  Simon,  285 

Bon   Homme   Richard   (bo-uom're-shar'), 

146 

Bonne'vilte,  340 
Bonus  Bill,  272 
Boou«,  Daniel,  160,  161 
Bosses,  323,  423,  619 
Boston,  73,  193,871,424 

in  Revolution,  181.  186,  187 

Tea  Party,  132,  153 
Bounty  land,  359 
Boxers,  in  China,  574 
Boycott,  550 
Braddock,  IGen.,  101 
Bradford,  William,  77 
Bragg,  Gen.,  443,  450,  451 
Bran'dy-wine,  battle,  142 
Bra-zil',  22,  34,  285 
Breadstuffs,  378 
Breck'in-ridge,  John  C.,  402 
Bridges,  197,  508-509 
Bright,  John,  468 
British,  nee  Great  Britain 
Brown,  John,  391,  398 
Brush,  Charles  F.,  514 
Bryan,  William  J.,  584,  564,  566,  605,  C13, 

622,  629 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  314 
Bu-e//an'an,  James.  392,  394,  405-406,  412 
Bu'ell,  Gen.,  443 
Bue'na  Vis'ta,  battle,  347 
Bull  Run,  441,  447 
Bunker  Hill,  136 
Burgesses,  45 
Bur-goyn«',  Gen.,  142,  143 
Burke,  Edmund,  127.  152 
Rur'lin-game  Treaty,  505 
Burns,  Anthony,  386-387 
Burnside,  Gen.!  447 
Burr,  Aaron,  233,  245-246 


Index 


xxx  vii 


Business,  107-124,  195-196,  215,  875,  503-504, 

641-648 

Butler,  Gen.  Benjamin  F.,  444,  470 
Butte,  Montana,  506 
Byl'lynge,  59 
Byrd,  Col.  William,  77,  116 

Cabinet,  210-211,  599,  602,  628 

Cable,  submarine.  .r>13 

Cab'ot,  John  anil  Sebastian,  22 

Ca-bral',  ->-i 

Caho'kia.  159,  168 

Cul-hoMii',  John  C.,  230,  299,  329,  353 

in  Congress,  254,  -JT-' 

nullification,  302-303,  327,  32S 

tariff,  297 

Tyler's  Secretary  of  State,  341 
California,  25,  289,  344,  347,  620,  634,  xvl 

gold  in,  848-349,  378 

slavery  question,  350,  351,  352,  355 
Cal  verts,  49 
Calvin,  John,  80,  82 
Camden,  battle,  147 
Caui'eron,  Simon,  414,  423,  489 
Camp  meeting,  206,  273 
Campaign  expenses,  620,  621 
Canada,  69,  103 

in  War  of  1S12,  254,  255,  256,  257,  258 

trade  with,  615 
Canal  Zone,  6U5,  685 
Canals,  197.  272-273,  369-371 ;   «<«  Panaini 

Canal,  Erie  Canal 
Canning,  George,  290 
Cannon,  Joseph  G.,  615 
Canoe,  in.  •_'«» 
Cape  Bret'on,  103 
Capital  of  U.  8.,  212-213 
Carolina,  62,  63 

Carpetbaggers,  491,  494.  495,  497 
Car-ran'za  (-tha),  626,  627 
Car^er-el,  Sir  George,  59 
Car-tha-ge'na,  30 

Cartier,  Jacques  (zhak  kar-tyii'),  26 
Carver,  John,  46 
Cii'siidfi  Cf.n-trac-ti-cl-on',  69 
Cass,  Lewis,  850,  851 
Catholics,  42,  49,  205,  338  ;  *tt  Churches 
C:ittle  raising.  538 
Caucus,  158,  300 
Ca-vT'tfi,  561 

Ca-yu'gas,  41  ;  »ee  Iroquois 
Cedar  Creek,  battle,  458 
Census,  *ff  Population 
Centennial  Kxposition.  519 
Central  America,  25.  2-C>.  493 
Cervera  (thar-va'ra).  Admiral,  563 
Chfuu'bersl.urg,  452 


(.'ham-plain',  Samuel  de,  3S 
.'han'cellorsville,  battle,  443 
Charles  I,  47,  48,  49,  58,  58 
Charles  II,  57,  58 
Charleston,  62,  193,  224.  4M 

in  Civil  War,  404,  406,  415,  455,  458,  475 

in  Revolution,  141,  147,  148 
Chase,  Philander,  Bishop,  273 
OtaM,  Sal'mon  P.,  Chie,'  Justice,  490 

Secretary  of  Treasury,  414,  475 

Senator,  353 
"hase,  Samuel,  240 
Chut'Aam,  Karl  of;  tte  Pitt 
Chattanoo'ga,  449-450 
Cher-o-kees',  13-14,  161,361 
Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  162 
Chetfa-peakf,  U48,  255 
Vhi-ca'go,  2(57.  3ft{,  424,  512,  540,  551,  552 
Chickamau'ga,  battle,  449-450 
Chick'a-saws,  14,  361 
Child  labor,  307,  309 
ChT'lfi,  difficulty  with,  525,  529 

independence  of,  •-'-:. 
Chillicoth'e,  219 
China,  Boxer  outbreak,  574 

treaty  with,  :57s 

Chinese  immigration,  505,  516,  553,  592 
Chip'pe-wa,  battle,  258 
Choc'taws,  14,  361 
Christian  Commission,  476 
Christina,  Ft.,  41 
Church  buildings,  81,  204 
Churches,  51,  S3,  61,  SO,  82-88,  204-207,  428 
C7'bo-la,  25 
Cincinnati,  219,  424 

Cities,  307,  323.  423,  58S-540,  556,  584,  636,  637 
City  Manager,  621 
Civil  Rights  Acts,  488,  495y 
Civil  service,  239.  326        •' 

Commission.  .V4,  r>99 

reform.  4!»4.  5-J3.  564-555,  559-560 
Civil  War,  485-460 

cost,  480-481 

economic  results  of,  503 
Clark,  George  Rogers,  16'2-lGH 
Clark,  William.  244 
t'UsMlie.l  service.  5'.'.S,  .V.'fi,  554,  599 
Clay.  Henry.  •>",  •>•->.*.  ^W.  301.',  3«0 


presidential  candi.latc.  30(1,  'i'.'?,  341 

tariti'.  ^97 

U.  S.  Bank.  :«7 

Warof  1M-J.  -.T4 
Clayton  Antitrust  Act,  624 
Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  350,  602 
rttnnont.  5J70 
Cleveland,  219,  424,  531 


Index 


Cleveland,  Qrover,  526,  527,  528,  532,  552, 

554,  577 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  261,  272 
Clinton,  George,  190,  245 
Coal  mining,  266,  365,  429,  581,  582 
Coinage,  216,  295,  332,  376,  378,  476,  498,  522 
Coke,  Thomas,  204 
Cold  Harbor,  battle,  451 
Colleges,  75,  76,  S3,  202,  274,  313,  425,  426, 

586 
Co-16m'bi-a,  285,  349,  524,  605 

treaties  with,  85(1,  603 
Colonial,  business,  107-124 

System,  61 

trade,  34,  61 
Colonies,  English,  29,  31,  43-51,  69 

government,  84-88 

life  and  industry,  73-75, 151 

See  names  of  colonies 
Colonization,  34-85 
Col-o-ra'do,  506,  xvi 
Colorado  Eiver,  592 
Columbia,  S.  C.,  458 
Columbia  College,  83 
Columbia  River,  244,  377,  580,  591 
Columbus,  Christopher,  19,  '21 
Commerce,  colonial,  120-122 

neutral,  246-248 

Pacific,  37S 

under  Confederation,  172-173 

under    Constitution,    196-196,    511 ;     set 

Tariff,  and  Interstate  commerce 
Commercial  panics  and  crises,  382,  360,  379 
Commercial  treaties,  17'-',  226,  232,  262,  333, 

57(>,  6-27 

Commission  government,  620,  621,  644 
Committees  of  Correspondence,  181,  153 
Compromise  of  1850,  352-355,  882 
Compromises  of  the  Constitution,  185-186 
Concord,  battle,  135 
Confederacy,  Southern,  407,  435 

government,  466-467,  470,  477,  484 

military  strength,  438,  439,  440 
Confederates,  punishment  of,  484,  489,  491 
Confederation,  158-159, 168-182 

weakness,  180-181 
Confiscation,  in  Civil  War,  472 

in  Revolution,  152,  171 
Congress,  Albany,  99,  158 
Congress,  Continental,  133-134,  186 
Congress,  Stamp  Act,  130 
Congress  of  the  Confederation,  168-169,  170, 
-      17.r>,  176,  178,  180.  181 
Congress  under  the  Constitution,  187,  209, 
217-218,  253.  261,  279.  316.  344 

powers  over  slavery,  334-885 

reconstruction  by,  498-489,  491 


Connecticut,  50,  58,  62,  67,  84,  85,  86,  156, 
175,  176,  xvi 

western  claims,  165,  219 
Connecticut  Compromise,  185 
Conservation,  610-618 
Constantinople,  3 
Constellation,  282 
Constitution,  256,  257 
Constitution  of  U.  8.,  xxi-xxxiv 

amendments  to,  211-212,  233,  486,  48S,  491, 
495,  625 

.  nalysis  of,  186-187 

arguments  about,  214-216 

making  of,  184-186 

ratification,  187-190 

theories  of,  220,  885 
Constitutional  Convention,  1S2-1S5 
Constitutional  Union  Party,  402 
Constitutions   of  the    states,   156-157,    422, 

594 

Consular  service,  600 
Continental  Congress,  First,  133-134 

Second, 186 

Contraband,  225,  226,  629 
"Contrabands,"  slaves.  456,  470-471 
Conventions,  party,  201,  327 
Con  way  Cabal,  145 
Cooper,  James  Fenitnore,  313 
Cooper,  Peter,  374 
Copley,  203 
"Copperheads."  465 
Corinth,  443 
Corn,  12,  110,  582 
Corn-wal'lis,  Lord,  147,  148 
Co-ro-na'do  (-tho),  25 
Corporations,  375,  429,  511,  512,  542,  619 

control    of,    543,    547-549,    601,   614,   616, 


Cor'tes,  Hernando,  24 

Corwin  Amendment,  411 

Cotton,  195,  421,  477,  582,  584,  585 

Cotton  gin,  195,  432 

Council,  colonial,  86 

County  government,  87,  277 

Cow-reur*'  de  bois  (bwa).  69 

Courts,  86,  87.  187,  212,  240,  298-299 

Cowpens.  battle,  147 

Crawford,  William  H.,  299 

Crfi-dH'  Mo-bi-lier'  (-lya'),  512 

Creeks.  14,  253.  361 

Crevecceur  (krav-ker'),  Ft.,  92 

Crime  of  1873,  498 

Criminals.  199,  309,  310 

Crit'ten-den,  Sen.,  411 

Cromwell.  Oliver,  52,  58 

Cro-ziW,  94,  95 

Cuba,  proposed  annexation,  288,  387-388 


Index 


xxx  ix 


( 'uba,  relations  to  U.  9.,  562,  5fi3,  5W.  :.0'.i-r,;n. 

i;o-,  027.  tw:> 

revolts  against  Spain,  5(>0,  524,  559 
Cum'berland  Road,  271 
Cunard  Co.,  86S 

Currency,  see  Coinage,  and  Paj>er  money 
Cush'ing,  Caleb,  :<7s 
Custer,  Gen.,  507 
Cutler,  Manasseh,  1T9 
f'«y-a-h6'ga  River,  in,  219 

Dakota  territory,  506 

Danish  West  Indies,  493  ;  see  Virgin  Islands 

Dare,  Virginia,  29 

Da-ri-i'n',  23 

Dart 'mouth  College,  88,299 

Dav'enport,  Rev.  John,  50 

Da\K  .lelferson,  387,  466-467 

Buchanan  and,  405 

captured,  460 

held  for  treason,  484,  490,  495 

President  of  confederacy,  407,  415 

resolutions  of  1860,  401 

secession  views,  411 
Dear'born,  Ft.,  2f,7 
Debs,  Eugene  V.,  552,  605 
Debtors'  laws,  199 
De-cii'tur,  239 
Declaration  of  Independence,  137,  158-155, 

x  vfii-xx 

Declaration  of  Rights.  133 
Deerfield,  96 
D.-i.russ,.',  Admiral,  148 
!)«••  Kiilb',  141 
Delaware,  66,  67,  188,  xvi 
Dfi  Lo'nifi,  Spanish  minister,  560 
Demarcation,  line  of,  22 
Democracy,  in  America,  200,  284,  323 
Democratic  Clubs,  224,  227 
Democratic  party,  earliest ;  nee  Republican 
party  ( Democratic) 

Jacksonian,  324,  SKI,  837 

recent  issues,  522,  594,  595 

slavery  and.  8x7.  401,492 
Denver,  429,  592 
Dependencies,  government  of,  567-569,  627, 

632,  «45 

Deposit  Act  of  1836,  882,  333 
Dfi  S.Vto,  25 
DP*  Plain***  River,  11 
I  >e-tr«»it',  94,  159,  255,  424 
Dew'ey,  Admiral  George,  561 
Diaz  (de'as),  Bartholomew,  18 
Ilia/.  G<.n..ti26 
Dickinson,  John,  131.  158 
Dingley  tariff,  566,  613 
Dinwid'die,  Gov..  99 


Direct  primary,  595,  619,  621,  644  ' 
Discovery  of  America,  IS,  21,  22.  23 
District  of  Columbia,  213,  319,  851,  355,  384, 

485 

Dix,  Dorothea,  310 
Doctrine  of  Isolation,  286 
Don'elson,  Ft.,  488,  442,  452 
Don'gan,  Gov.,  60 
Dorr  Rebellion,  888 
D«iig'las,  Stephen  A.,  389-890,  401,  402 

Lincoln  and,  897,  398,  416 

slavery  views,  888,  390,  396 
Draft,  260,  465,  475 
Drake,  Sir  Francis,  28,  30 
Draper,  Dr.,  430 

Dred  Scott  decision,  394-895,  401 
Dress,  74,  121,811 
Du-uii«',  881 
Duke's  Laws,  60 
Du-quesne'  (-kin'),  Ft.,  99,  101 
I  iiistin,  Hannah,  96 
Dutch,  colonies,  40-41,  58 

freedom  from  Spain,  28 

in  Connecticut  valley,  40,  58 
Dutch  West  India  Company,  40 

Kads,  Capt.,  545 

Early,  Gen.,  451,  454 

Kast  Florida,  244,  288,  C34 

East  India  Company.  57 

Katon,  Theophilus,  50 

Economic  changes,  508 

Ed'ison,  Thomas  A.,  514 

Kducation,  75-76,  201-202,  288,  312,  423-426, 


in  South,  586-587 

of  girls,  202,  425 
Edwards,  Rev.  Jonathan,  76,  88 
Election,  nee  Voters,  and  Presidential  elections 
Electoral  Commission,  521 
Electoral  Count  Act,  555 
Electric  devices,  514,  643 
El'i-ot,  John,  77 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  27,  28,  29 
Emancipation  proclamations,  472,  478,  474, 

475,  485 

Embargo  Act,  248-249 
Em'erson,  Ralph  Waldo,  426 
Emigrant  aid  companies.  391 
England,  changes  in  government,  52,  57,  67, 
95 

claim  to  North  America,  81 

colonies  of,  *ee  Coloniei  and  Colonial 

discoveries,  22,  27-29 

war  with  France.  89,  97-108 

war  with  Spain.  29-31 

.W  ,il*u  Great  Britain 


HART'S  NKW  AMKK.  HIST.  —  42 


xl 


Index 


Enumerated  goods,  123 

Equality,  646 

Era  of  Good  Feeling,  300 

Er'icson,  Leif,  18 

Er'icsson,  John,  444 

Erie,  Pa.,  177 

Erie  Canal,  272-273 

Er'skin«,  British  minister,  252 

European  background  of  American  history, 

8-7,  18,  52,  57,  58,  66,  95,  223,  2 S3,  806, 

363,  505,  603 
Ev'ans,  Oliver,  195,  199 
Ew'ell,  Gen.,  454 
Excise,  214,  216,  227 

Executive  Departments,  organized,  210-211 
Ex'eter,  N.H.,  settled,  51 
Exploration,  of  coast ;  xee  Discovery 

of  interior,  25,  244-245,  340 
Express  companies,  432,  615 

Fairbanks,  Charles  W.,  647 
Fair  Oaks,  battle,  445 
Fall  Line,  7 
Far  West,  579,  538-593,  633 

education,  593 

people,  592 

scenery,  591-592 
Farmers'  Alliance,  530 
Farming,  110-111, 194,  421,  584-585 

machinery,  367-30*,  481 
Far'ragut,  David  G.,  443,  -444,  4.r.r. 
Federal  Convention,  182-18C 
Federal,  Reserve  bill,  624 

Trade  Commission,  624 
Federalist,  188 

Federalist  party,  187,  1S8,  220,  228,  300 
"  Fifty-four  Forty  or  Fight,"  342 
Fillmore,  Millard,  853 
Finance,  in  Civil  War,  469-470 

in  Revolution,  170-172 

in  War  of  181 2,  261 

recent,  497 

under  Confederation,  171-172 

under  Constitution,  187,  214-216 

tire  <il»o  Public  Debt,  Tariff,  etc. 
Fish,  Hamilton,  499 
Fisher,  Ft.,  455 

Fisheries,  107,  119,  196,  289,  499 
Fitch,  John,  199 

Fitz-hu0A',  Col.  William,  112-113 
Five  Nations,  ate  Iroquois 
Flag,  United  States,  169 
Florida,  British,  103 

French  in,  26 

purchased  by  IT.  8.,  288 

Seminole  war,  862 

Spanish,  24,  25,  103,  283 


Florida,  state  in  U.  8.,  352,  406,  xvi 

Floyd,  John  B.,  406 

Foote,  Andrew  H.,  442 

Force  Bills,  328,  495 

Forests  of  United  States,  365,  589,  611 

Fort  Wayne,  267 

Forty-niners,  349 

Kox,  Charles  James,  127 

France,  ally  of  U.  8.,  146,  148 

changes  in  government,  223,  806 

claim  to  North  America,  31,  98  _ 

colonies,  37-39,  69,  240-241    __ . 

depredations  on  U.  S.  commerce,  225,  '.".'9. 
3.33 

discoveries,  26,  42,  92-95 

Mexican  empire,  492-4i»:! 

revolutions,  223,  806 

spoliation  claims,  333 

treaties  with,  146,  223,  232,  241 

war  with  England,  06-1(18,  223,  247 

war  with  Iroquois,  8s,  89 

war  with  U.  8.,  281-232 

X.  Y.  Z.  controversy,  229-280 
Franklin,  state  of,  178 
Franklin,  Benjamin.  7S-79,  189,  169 

Declaration  of  Independence,  154 

Federal  Convention,  182,  1S5,  186 

minister  to  France,  146 

plan  of  union,  99.  158 

writings  of,  79,  202 
Fraternity,  646 
Fredericksburg,  battle,  4-17 
Free  coinage,  522;    xrr  Coinage,  Silver,  and 

Gold 

Free  Silverites,  6(15 
Freebooters,  27-29 
Freedman's  Bureau,  485,  491 
Freedom,  637-648 
Freeport  doctrine,  397-398 
Free-soil  party,  351,  :is7 
Frc-mont',  John  C.,  340,  347,  392,  471 
French,  nee  France 
French  and  Indian  War,  99-1 03 
French  Canadians.  553 
French  settlers,  89,  73,  95 
Fre-neau'  (-no'),  Philip,  202 
Fugitive  Slave  Acts,  275,  852,  355,  474 
Fugitive  slaves,  351,  3S6-387,  472 
Fulton,  Hobert,  270 
Fur  trade,  37,  42,  107,  340,  376-878 

Gabriel  insurrection,  816 
Gadsde.n  Purchase,  348,  634 
Gag  Resolutions,  319 
Gage,  Gen.  Thomas,  183 
Gal'latin,  Albert,  23s,  252 
Galloway,  Joseph,  152 


Index 


xli 


Gal  res  ton,  620 
Gii'u.a,  VaVco  da,  22 
Gartield,  James  A.,  528 
Garrison,  \Vllliain  Lloyd,  318,  319 
Gates,  Gen.,  148,  145 
(JeiuH  t/hO-nr'),  Kdinond,  22:'..  '-'24 
Geography  of  IT.  8.,  7-10,  589 
George  III,  127,  152,  158 
Georgia,  68,  78,  406,  xvi 

Indian  troubles,  861-362 

western  claims,  165,  176,  219 
German  settlers,  73,  1»8.  :i(W.  :?64,  .'.or. 
Germany,  571,  607,  62*»,  047,  049 
fte-ron'l-mo,  16 
GeVry,  Elbridge,  280 
Gerrj mander,  828,  565 
G.-ttyshurg,  battle,  448-449 
GAent,  treaty  of,  2ul-.'r.-' 
Uid'dings,  Joshua  il..  :',20 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  27,  29 
Girard,  Stephen,  2»5,  -'9(5 
Girdled  Koad,  219 
Glad'stdne,  468 
Gocthals,  Maj.  Geo.  W.,  610 
Oi.ld,  849,  366,  4'->l,  429,  49S,  499,  522,  566,  570 

money,  nee  Coinage 
Good  Hope,  Ft.,  40 
Good 'year,  Charles,  430 
Gorgas,  Col..  Old 
Gor'gC-s,  Kerdinando,  51 
Gor'sueh,  886 
Goidd,  Jay,  543 
Government,  city,  61,  540,  620 

colonial,    S4-SS,   157-15S .    «<•«   names    of 
colonies 

confederate,  466-467 

dependencies,  567-569,  627,  632,  645 

local,  277,  645 

popular,  643-644 

Union,  464-465 

U.S.,  209-212.  329,  644-645 
Gra-na'da,  5 
Grand  Model,  62 
"Grand father  clause, "594 
Grangers,  520 
Grant.  l-h>-es  S..  452-153,  477,  528 

campaigns  in  Kast,  451,  456,  459,  460 

ruinpaitrns  in  \\Vst.  442,  443,  447-US,  450 

President,  4!»4.  4!tti,  499,  500 
Gray,  Capt.  Uolw-rt,  244 
Graysoii,  ordinance,  176 
Great  Britain,  95.  172,  173,  629  ;  see  England 

boundary  controversies,  288,  333,  3*9,  :i4i! 

depredations  on  U.  S.  commerce.  22:),  -.MO 
24!» 

during  Olvll  War.  440,  467-469,  474,  499 

Isthmian  caual.  350 


Great  Britain,  treaties  (1783)  170,  (1794)  226, 

247,  (1814)  261-262,  (1S1>)  .'» 
Venezuelan  boundary,  582 
wars  with  France,  (ki-103,  223,  247 
wars  with  U.S.,  188-148,  254-260 

Great  Plains,  9 

Great  War  of  1914,  607,  628-629,  649-650 

Greater  New  York,  556 

Greece,  806 

Greeley,  Horace,  391,  473,  496 

Green,  Duff,  325 

Greenback  party,  520,  522 

Greenbacks,  469,  477,  4!»7,  498,  511,  521-522 

Green«,  Gen.  NathanK-1,  147 

Greenville,  treaty  of,  219 

Griffon  (gre-fow'),  92 

Guam  (gwam),  564,  634 

Gua-na-han'i,  19 

GuerrUre  (gar-ryar'),  257 

Gai-a'na.  582 

GMil'furd,  battle,  147 

Gn/ten-berg,  printer,  2 

Hague,  571,  608 
//<///  I'olumbia,  280 
Ihu'ti,  19,  241,  627,  635 


llalleck,  Gen.,  443 

llam'ilton,  Alexander,  and  'Adams,  288 

biography.  144,  213-214,  220,  22« 

Burr  and,  246 

Constitution,  182,  184,  188,  190 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  211,  214,  '.'15, 

216,  217 

Hamilton,  Henry,  163 
Hampton  Koads  conference,  4»'.o 
Hancock,  John,  119,  129.  l*s,  189,  196 
Hancock,  Winfleld  S.,  522 
Hanna,  Marcus  A.,  565 
Harmar,  Gen.,  218 
Harnden,  William  F.,  482 
Harpers  Ferry,  398 
Harris,  Joel  Chandler,  587 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  528,  581 
Harrison,  William  H.,  253,  258,  337,  383 
Hartford,  50,  62;  Convention.  •_'.;i 
Harvard  College,  75 
Hii'ver-Wll,  Mass.,  96 
li;i-w(/l'ian  Islands,  878,  570-571,  C34 
Hawkins,  Sir  John,  27 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  314,  426 
Hay,  John,  564,  574,  599 
Hay-Pauncefote  treaty,  603 
Hay#j,  Rfifh'erford  B..  519.  520,  521,  524 
Hayn#,  Senator,  8«7 
Haystack  movement,  :iOS 
Henderson,  Kichard,  161 


xlii 


Index 


Hen'nepin,  Father,  92 

Henry,  Ft.,  438,  442 

Henry,  Patrick,  129,  130,  133,  152,  153,  1C3, 

189 

Henry  VII,  22 

Henry  the  Navigator,  Prince,  4 
Hepburn  Act,  606 
Her'kimer,  Gen.,  143 
Hessian  soldiers,  139 
Higginson,  Col.  T.  W.,  475 
Hill,  Gen.  A.  P.  and  Gen.  I).  H.,  454 
Hill,  James  J.,  590,  591 
Hispanio'la,  19,  21 
Ho-chel'a-ga  (St.  Lawrence),  26 
Hoe,  Richard,  431 

Holland,  or  the  Netherlands,  see  Dutch 
Hofaieg,  Oliver  Wendell.  426 
Holy  Alliance,  289,  290,  292 
Homestead  Act,  506 
Homestead  Iron  Works,  551 
Honduras,  21,  493 
Hood,  Gen.,  454,  458 
Hooker,  Gen.  Joseph,  448 
Hooker,  Rev.  Thomas,  50 
Hopkinson,  230 
House  of  Representatives.  209 
Houses,  7:i.  74.  113,  117.  ll'.t,  273 
H,/u-'t6n,  Sam,  409 
How«,  Klias.  430 
Howe,  Sir  William,  141,  142 
Howland  Island,  571,  635 
Hudson,  Henry,  40 
Hudson  Kay,  68,  97 
Hudson  Uiver,  40,  142 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  OS,  343,  378 
HuerU(wer'ta),626 
Hughes  (hux),  Charles  K.,  647.  64-> 
HiVgue-not  colonists,  26,  37,  73,  iy3 
Hull,  Gen.,  255 
Humanitarian  reform,  306-320 
Hunter,  Gen.,  471 
Hurons,  42 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  58 
Hutrhinson,  Thomas,  131 
Hy-la-com'i-lus,  23 

I-ber-vTlte',  94 
I'daho,  506,  581,  xvi 
Illinois',  274,  276,  xvi 

County  of,  168 

Immigration,  362-365,  505.  537,  5.12-554,  584 
Impeachment  of  President  Johnson,  492,  555 
"Imperialism,  "605 
Implied  powers,  217,  218 
Impressments,  225,  226,  246,  247,  255,  262 
Incas,  18 
Income  tax,  531,  62.5 


I  ndented  servants,  199 

Independence,  153-156 

Independent  treasury,  333 

Independents  (sect),  46 

Indian  Territory,  361,  581 

Indian  Wars,  45,  50.  62, 96,  159,  218.  253, 507 

Indiana,  219,  274,  276,  xvi 

Indians,  aboriginal  life,  10,  11,  12-16 

behavior  in  slavery,  115 

controversy  with  Georgia,  361-362 

in  Revolution,  139,  lCl-lr.2 

relations  with  whites,  09 

removal  of,  361-362.  036 

Severally  Act,  588 

"tribes,"  15 

warfare,  14,  15,  96-97;  see  Indian  Wars 

See  al»o  names  of  tribes 
Industries.  195,  42S-430 

in  South,  5a%  584 
Initiative,  595,  620,  621 
Insane,  care  of,  199,  311 
Insular  Cases,  568 
Insurance  companies,  198,  511 
Intercolonial  wars,  97-1(13 
Internal  improvements,  272,  370 
Interstate  commerce,  173,  544 
Interstate  Commerce  Act.  545-547 

Commission,  546,  606,  615 
Intolerable  Acts,  132 

Inventions,  198-199, 366-368, 430-432, 512-515 
I'owa,  352,  xvl 
Irish  immigrants,  364-365 
Iron,  266,  365,  366,  429,  513,  5S2,  583 
Ir-o-quoi*',  13,  38,  39,  41,  42,  97,  99,  162,  165 .. 
Irrigation,  589,  612-613 
Irving,  Washington,  313 
Isabella  of  Castile,  5,  19 
Island  No.  10,  443 
Island  of  Orleans,  240,  241 
Isthmian  Canal,  349-350,  524,  602-605 
Italian  immigrants,  553 

Jackson,  Andrew,  300,  324-325 

general,  253,  259,  288 

President,  304,  323,  325-326,  327,  32S,  333, 
334,  860,  361 

presidential  candidate,  800,  303 
Jackson,  James,  252,  255 
Jackson,   Gen.  Thomas  J.  ("Stonewall"), 

441,  442.  445,  446,  454 
Jamaica,  53 
James  II,  62,  66,  67 
Jamestown,  44,  64 
Japan,  378,  558,  592,  607 
Jasper.  Sergeant,  141 
Java,  257 
Jay,  John,  188,  212.  225 


Index 


xliii 


.lav,  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  169.  226 
Jefferson.  Thomas,  211.  227,  233.  237-2::-< 

Declaration  of  lnde|*.>ndence,  154 

Hamilton  and,  22n,  22:i 

Kentucky  Resolutions,  281 

nil  Maverv.  2OO 

onlinance  for  western  territory,  176 

President,  169,237-249 

Vice  President,  228 

writings  of,  203,  241 
Jesuits  in  America,  39 
Jews,  6s,  --'iif, 
J  i. guns  t/.liog),  Father,  42 
Johnson,  Andrew,  governor,  442 

President,  487,  488,  491,  492 

Vice  President,  475 
Johnson.  Sir  William,  97 
Johnston,  Gen.  Albert  Sidney,  44;'. 
Johnston,  Gen.  Joseph  E.,  441,  445,  454-465, 

460 

Joint  >t..ck  companies,  198 
Joliet  (y.ho-ly:'i'),  92 
Jo,,,.-.  .John  Paul,  146 
Juan  (hoo-an')  dfi  Fu/ca,  Strait  of,  10 
Judiciarv  Act,  212 
.Junta.  559 

Kan'knkee  River,  92 

Kansas.  390,  391,  893,  394,  395,  396,  4<\*.  476. 

xvi 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  390,  895 
Karl-seCnl,  18 
Kaskas'kia,  159,  168 
Kear'ney,  Dennis,  516 
Kear'ny,  Gen.,  347 
Kemble,  Fanny,  815 
Kendall,  Amos,  825 
Kentucky,  160,  161,  176,  178,  416,  443 

state,  21-.  xvi 
Kentucky  Resolutions,  281 
Key,  Francis  S.,  258 
King,  Rufus,  299 
King  Philip's  War.  62 
Kings  Mountain,  battle,  147 
Kitchen  Cabinet.  325 
Knight.  Mi>..  IK. 
Knights  ..I'  Labor.  515,  54!t 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  465 
Know-nothings,  391 
Knox,  Henry,  211 
Knoxville,  449 
Kos-ci-us'ko.  141 
Ku-Klux  Klan,  495,  496 

Labor,  113-114,  504,  515,  549,  5s4-.W,.  iUo- 

641 
La-chin*'  Rapids,  26 


Indies'  aid  societies,  476 

La-drones',  24,  564 

La-fa-y<5U«',  13S,  141,  147 

LaFollette,  Robert,  615 

Laird  rams,  474 

Lake  Erie,  battle,  257 

La  Pla'to,  36,  284,  285 

La  Salte',  Robert  Cavelier,  Sie«r  d?.  92,  93 

Latin  America,  2*4,  286,  290,  292,  524 

Laurens,  Henry,  169 

Lawrence,  Kan.,  891 

Lead,  366 

Lead'ville,  Colo.,  506 

L6  Boewf,  Ft.,  99,  99 

Lecomp'ton  constitution,  396,  396 

Lee,  Anna,  206 

Lee,  Fitzhugh,  560 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  453-454 

captures  Brown,  398 

in  Civil  War,  445,  4445,  447,  448,  449,  451, 

459,  460,  495 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  138,  154 
Lelf  the  Lucky,  18 
Lft-6u',  Pon'cfi  t-tha)  dfi,  24 
Leopard.  -J4> 
Lesseps,  Ferdinand  de,  524 
Lewis,  Meri  wether,  244 
Lexington,  battle,  1=J4-135 
Libby  Prison,  478 
Liberal  Republicans,  496 
Li-be'rl-a,  276 
Liberty,  645 
Liberty  loan,  650 
Liberty  party,  341 
Libraries  founded,  813 
Life,  American  colonial,  72-88 

during  Civil  War,  476-478 

in  1780-1800.  198-207 

in  1861,  420-432 

in  the  South,  314-316,  422,  429,  504,  582- 
587 

in  the  West,  273-274 

Indian,  12-16 

slave.  314-316 

Lincoln.   Abraham,   273,  361,   365,   396-397, 
472-473 

debates  with  Douglas.  397 

elected  President,  4' 4-412 

on  secession,  411 

on  the  Union,  156 

President,  413,  414,  415.  416.  43.\  I.,?.  442. 
446,  451,  460,  465,  467,  468,  471.  474,  475, 
478,  479,  486,  487 

representative  in  Congress,  345,  351 
Lin'otype  machine,  515 

Literature.  7'V-7-.  2O2-2'«.  313-314.  426-42' 
Livingston,  Eobcrt  R.,  241,  244 


xliv 


Index 


Local  government,  S6-S8 

in  West,  277 

See  also  Cities 
Locke,  John,  62 
Logrolling,  110 

London  Company,  43,  44,  45,  46 
Long  Island,  battle,  141-142 
Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  426 
Longstreet,  Gen.,  454 
Lookout  Mountain,  battle,  450 
"  Loose  Construction,"  217,  220,  298 
Lo'pfiz  (-pas),  in  Cuba,  388 
Louisburg,  97,  101 

LoH-i-si-a'na,  province,  93-95,  102,  172,  240- 
241 

Purchase,  241,  634 

state,  243,  274,  275,  406,  485,  xvi 
Low'is-ville,  193,  424,  443 
Leveloy,  Elijah,  319 
Low'ell,  F.  C.,  199 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  314,  318,  345,  427,  646 
Loyalists  (Tories),  152,  171,  173,  226 
Lundy,  Benjamin,  276 
Lundys  Lane,  battle,  258 
Lusitania,  629 
Ly-ce'uin,  313 
Lynching,  586 
Lyon,  Capt.,  416 

McClellan,    Gen.    George   B.,  442,  444,  445, 

446,  447,  475 

McCormick,  Cyrus  H.,  367 
MacDon'owfl*,  Com.,  258 
McDowell,  Gen.,  441,  445 
Macedonian.  257 

Machinery,  198-199,  358,  512-515,  642,  643 
McKinley,  William,  528,  534,  554,  560,  565 
McKinley  tariff,  529 
Ma-comft',  Gen.,  258 
Macon  Bill  No.  2,  253 
Ma-de'ro,  626 
Madison,  Dolly,  252 
Madison,  James,  169,  182-184,  188,  189,  220 

President,  252,  .255,  272 

Virginia  Resolutions,  231 
Magazines,  203,  274,  314,  426,  427 
Ma-gel'lan,  23,  24 
Magoon,  608         1 
Ma-ho'ning  River,  10 
Maine,  and  Massachusetts,  51,  58,  67 

boundary  controversy,  339 

prohibition  law,  811 

settlements  in,  31,38 

state,  279,  xvi 
Maine,  destroyed,  560 
Malvern  Hill,  battle,  445 
MandevilWs  Travels,  4 


Ma-nil'a,  561,  564 

Mann.  Horace,  312 

Manufactures,  19.%  295,  296,  367,  429,  583 

in  South,  5S3-5S4 
Marcy,  William  L.,  387 
Ma-ri-et'ta,  O.,  founded,  180 
Mar'i-on,  Gen.  Francis,  147 
Mar-quettc'  (-ket'),  Father,  92 
Marshall,  James  W.,  348 
Marshall,  John,  230,  246,  298,  299 
Martial  law,  464 

Maryland,   49,   64,  65,  67,  72,  189,  416,  475, 
4S5,  xv 

ratifies  Articles  of  Confederation,  159,  163, 

165 

Mason  and  Slidell,  467 
Mason.  Capt.  John,  50  / 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  175,  280/ 
Massachusetts,    colony,   47-48,  61,   67,    157, 
188,  xvi 

education  in,  75 

in  Revolution,  132,  13f> 

Plymouth  colony  added  to,  67 

Shays's  Rebellion,  174 

slavery,  175 

western  claims,  165,  175 
Mafti'er,  Cotton,  77,  80 
Maxim,  Hiram.  514 
Maximilian,  of  Mexico,  492,  493 
Hatfbrmxr,-4A 
Meade,  Gen.,  448,  451 
Meade,  Bishop  William,  428 
Mecklenburg  County,  U>3 
Memphis,  443 
M£-nsn'dfiZ  (ilath),  26 
Merchant,  colonial,  118-119 
"Merger,  "601 
Merit  system,  554 
Merrimac  and  Monitor,  444-445 
Merritt,  Gen.  Wesley  A.,  561 
Mexico,  24,  25,  36,  285,  333,  344,  347 

Indians  in,  13 

Napoleon  III  and,  468,  492,  493 

war  with  U.  8.,  344-348,  626-627 
Michigan,  274,  313,  352,  xvi 
Midnight  judges,  289 
Midway  Island,  571,  635 
Mifflin,  Gov.,  227 
Mil'an  Decree,  248 
Miles,  Gen.,  563 
Military  Academy,  813 
Military    government,    in    Civil  War,   464- 

467 

Militia,  260,  261,416,  439 
Milligan.  Dr.,  464 
Milwaukee,  424 
Mimms,  Ft.,  253 


Index 


xlv 


Minerals,  conservation  of,  611-612 

Mining,  '.'tie,  429,  504,  506 

Minneapolis,  92 

Minnesota,  408,  xvii 

Mint,  216.  498 

Mlnutemen,  135,  130 

Miquelon  (uie-k'-lo.sO,  102 

Miranda.  2M 

Missionary  Kidge,  battle,  450-451 

Mi»ions.  307,  308 

Mis.-is-ippi,  '219,  274,  276,  406,  xvii 

Mississippi  Kiver,  discovered,  24 

explored,  92,  93 

jetties,  545 

right  to  navigate,  226,  240 

valley,  S 

Missouri,  244,  277,  279,  416,  475,  485,  xvii 
Missouri  compromise,  277-280 
Mit,.[,,.ll.  .lohn,  600 
Mo-hil*',  founded,  1)4 

forts  captured,  456 
Mo'doc  Indians,  507 
Mo'hawks,  41  ;  gee  Iroquois 
Molasses  Act.  122.  127 
Money,  ate  Coinage  and  Paper  mom  y 
.Monitor.  444.  445 

M6n-roe',  James,  169.  241,  26(1,  290,  299 
Monroe  Doctrine.  290-292,  608,  609 
Monta'na.  .'KMi.  579.  5SO.  xvii 
Mont-calm',  Marquis  de,  101 
Mon-te-rfiy'.  battle,  346 
Montg6m'ery,  Gen.,  137 
Mont-re-al',  26,  39 

captured,  102 
M..N/V.  Sigwr  d5,  37,  38 
Moravians,  68,  206 
Mormons,  308-309,  393,  394 
Mori-ill  tariff,  469 
Morris,  Robert,  142,  172 
Morse,  Samuel  K.  B.,  431 
MosquitoeB,  8,  610 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  427 
MoMl'trie.  Ft.,4»Ni 
Mounds,  18 

•Mount  Desert  Island,  39 
Mount  Vernon,  181 
Mugwumps.  .V_'.; 
Miih'lenberg,  Frederick,  209 
Mur'freesboro,  battle,  44:i 
Museums,  founding  of,  313 

Napoleon,  232,  258,  284,  285,  289 

Louisiana,  240,  241 

seizes  U.  S.  ships,  248,  258 
Napoleon  III,  46-.  4'.*.' 
Narragan'sett  Indians,  50 
Nar-va'gz  (-ath),  24 


Nashville,  442,  458 
National  Colonization  Society,  276 
National  debt,  nee  Public  debt 
National  parks,  589,  591 
National  road,  271 

Natural  resources  of  U.  S.,  7-9,  11-12,  107, 
358-859,  865-366,  428-129,  503-504,  582- 
583,  633 

Naturalization,  280,  505 
Naval  Academy,  318 
Naval  stores,  112,  120 
Navigation  Acts,  53,  61,  128,  12T 
Navy,  in  Civil  War,  439-440,  455 

in  Revolution,  146 

in  War  of  1612,  256,  267,  259 

in  war  with  France,  281,  282 

Jefferson  and,  238,  247 

modern,  528,  562,  608 
Nebraska,  889, 506,  xvii 
Necessity,  Ft.,  99 
Negro  Seamen  Act,  40S 
Negroes,  see  Slavery 

after  Civil  War.  481.  485-486.  495.  504.JJOO 

colonization  of,  276,  475 

laborers,  583-686 

schools,  687 

suffrage,  490,  491,  495,  594 

troops  In  Civil  War,  475 
Netherlands,  see  Dutch 
Neutrality,  224,  628      - 
Ne-va'da,  476,  506,  xvii 
Neville,  Gen.,  227 
New  Albion,  29 
New  Amsterdam,  40,  58 
New  England,  Indian  wars  in,  50,  62,  96 

settled,  46 

slave  trade,  121,  122 

War  of  1812,  261 

See  nfxo  names  of  separate  states 
New  England  Confederation,  52-53,  158 
.Vew  England  Primer,  78 
New  France,  39,  69  ;  see  Canada 
New  Gra-na'da,  349 

New  Hampshire,  51,  67,  156,  175,  1-0.  xvii 
New  Haven,  50,  58 
New  Jersey,  59,  67,  73,  159,  173,   175,   185, 

xvii 

New  Jersey  Plan,  184     A 
New    Mexico,    )W,   344,  347,   350,   352,  353, 

5S2,  634.  xvii 
New  Netherland,  40,  68 
New  OKle-ans,  95,   102,  224,  240,   241,  243. 
246,  428,  646,  684 

battle,  269 

capture  in  Civil  War,  444 
New  South.  537.  577 

education  in,  586-667 


xlvi 


Index 


New  York  (city),  draft  riots,  465 

growth,  58,  60,  73,  87,  169,  193,  273,  4-J4, 
556,637 

in  Revolution,  142,  144,  146,  147,  148,  170 

Tweed  King,  540 
New  York  (state),  "  Antirent,"  388 

colony,  73,  85,  87,  xvii 

Constitution,  190 

western  claims,  165,  175 
New  York  Harbor,  26,  40 
Newfoundland,  29,  37,  97,  170,  289 
Newlands  Act,  612 
Newport,  51,  144 
Newspapers,  77,  203,  314 
Ni-ca-ra'gua,  350,  493,  525,  609,  627,  635 
Ni-co-le«',  Jean  (/nan),  42 
Nic'olls  60 
Nifla  (nSn'ya),  19 
Nome,  570 

Nominating  conventions,  327 
Nonimportation  Act,  247 
Nonintercourse  Act,  253 
Normal  school,  312,  586 
North,  Lord,  169 

North  America,  physical  features  of,  7-10 
North  Carolina.  62,  67,  72.  190,  416,  xvii 

in  Involution,  147 

western  claims,  163,  176 
North  Dakota,  579,  xvii 
Northwest  Ordinance,  178-180 
Northwest  passage,  27 
Northwest  Territory,  179,  274,  634 
Nova  Scotia,  87,  39,  97,  100 
Nullification,  231,  327-828,  329,  830 

of  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  383 

O'berlin  College,  311,  319 
O'gle-thorpe,  James  Edward,  68 
Ohio,  219,  266,  275,  370.  xvii 
Ohio  Company,  99 

Ohio  Company  of  Associates,  177,  180 
Ohio  Idea,  498 
Oil,  366,  428-429,  588 
Ok-la-ho'ma,  581,  582,  5S8,  xvii 
O/m'sted,  Frederick  l,aw,  530 
Olney,  Richard,  532 
O-n«i'das,  see  Iroquois 
On-on-da'gas,  see  Iroquois 
"Open-door"  policy,  574 
Orange,  Ft.,  40 

Ordinance  of  1787,  178-180,  385 
Or'e-gon,  244,  245, 840,  342,  343, 348,  408,  634, 
xvll 

explored,  244-245 

joint  occupation,  289 
Oregon,  602 
Original  Package  Law,  547 


O-ris'ka-ny,  battle,  143 
Orleans,  Territory  of,  243 
Os-a-wat'o-mie  (-wot'),  391 
Og'good,  Samuel,  211 
Ost-end'  Manifesto,  888 
Otis,  James,  128 
Ottawa  route,  42 

Pacific  Ocean,  discovered,  23 

Pacific  railroads,  375,  509,  579,  590 

Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  587 

Pain«,  Thomas,  154 

Pak'en-/tam,  Gen;,  258 

Pal'ma,  Gen.,  569,  608 

Pa'lo  A'l'to,  battle,  846 

Pa'los,  19 

Pa-lou§«',  580 

Pan-a-ma',  21,  69,  349,  315 

Panama  Canal,  524,  602,  603,  604,  605,  609. 

610 

Panama  Congress,  292,  303 
Panama  republic,  605 
Pan-American  Congress,  529,  6^7 
Pan-American  policy  of  Blaine,  525 
Panics,  332,  360,  379,  497,  512 
Paper  blockade,  224,  247 
Paper  money,  122-123,  171,  295,  297,  497,  498 

in  Civil  War,  4H9,  477 
Paris,  peace  of  (1763),  102-1(6,  159,  (1898)  564 

treaty  of  (1762),  169,170 
Parish,  government  of,  87 
Parker,  Judge  Alton  B.,  605 
Parker,  Theodore,  818 
Parkman,  Francis,  427 
Parson's  Cause,  129 

Parties,  ««c  Federalist,  Democratic,  etc. 
Passaniaq  noddy  Bay,  38 
Pastorius,  76 
Pat'er-son,  William,  182 
Patrons  of  Husbandry,  520 
Pa-troons',  40 
Payne-Aldrich  tariff,  614 
Pea  Kidge,  battle,  443 
Peace  Congress  (1861),  411 
Pendleton  Act,  523,  527 
Penn,  William,  59,  65,  66,  77 
Pennsylvania,  64-66,  67,  73,  85,  87,  159,  175, 

177,  188,  271,  370,  xvii 
Pensaco'la,  94,  288 
Pensions,  527,  528 
Peonage,  586 
People's  party,  530,  605 
Pe'quot  War,  50-51 
Per-di'do  River,  240,  287 
Perkins,  Jacob.  199 
P6r'ry,  Com.  Matthew  C.,  378 
Perry,  Oliver  H.,  257 


Index 


xlvii 


Perryrille,  battle,  443 
Pershing,  Gen.,  (>-'7 
Personal  Liberty  Hills,  383 
Pe-ru',  '24,  36,  285,  525 
Petersburg,  siege  of,  451,  452,  459 
Pet'i-gru,  James  L.,  409 
Philadelphia,  66,  73,  169,  184,  193,  212,  870, 
371,  424,  539 

Centennial  exposition,  519 

In  Revolution,  136,  14'.',  144,  146 
Philip,  King,  Indian,  62 
Phil'ip-ptne  Islands,  561,  564,  574,  634 

discovered,  24,  29 

government,  564,  568,  569 
Phillips,  Wendell,  318 
Phillips  academies,  201 
Phips,  William,  118 
Photography,  430 
Pickering,  Timothy,  229 
Pickett,  (Jen,  448 
Pierce,  Franklin,  387,  390,  391 
Pike,  Lieut  Zeb'uion,  245 
Pikes  Peak,  discovered,  245 


Pin.'kney,  Charles  C.,  229,  252 

Pi  ne/da,  24 

/''in'tn,  19 

Pirates,  239,  269 

Pitt,  William  (Chatham).  101,  127,  139,  152 

Pittsburgh,  159,  227,  266,  267,  365,  370,  424 

Pittfburg  Landing,  battle  near,  443 

Pi-ziir'ro,  Francisco,  24 

Plank  roads,  269,  271 

Planter,  colonial,  111-113 

Plassey,  battle,  101 

•"  Plate  fleet,"  69 

Plait  Amendment,  569,  608 

Plattsburg,  battle,  258 

Plym'euth  Colony,  47,  68,  67 

Plymouth  Company,  43,  44 

Pocahon'tas,  45 

Poo,  Edgar  Allan,  314,  427 

Political  methods,  619-621 

P.Vk,  James  K.,  341,  342,  344,  345,  347 

Pollard,  Edward  Albert,  315 

Polo,  Marco,  4 

Pon'ti-ac,  16,  159 

Pony  express,  -132 

/'<mr  Hictiard'a  Almanac,  79 

Poor  whites,  422,  504,  584 

Pope,  Gen.,  446 

Pope's  bull  of  1493,  22 

Popular  sovereignty,  850,  388,  390,  396 

Population  (1700)  72,  (1754)  100.  (1776)  139, 
(1790)  193,  (19001  265,  (1830)  314,  420, 
(I860)  420-421,  ^1890)  537,  582,  (1910) 
682,  592,  682,  683 


Port  Itoyal,  N.  8.,  97 

Port  Koyal,  S.  C.,  French  in,  26 

Portages,  Indian,  10,  11 

Porter,  Capt.,  257 

PortOla'no,  2 

Porto  Ki'co,  568,  564,  568,  634 

Portugal,  4,  22,  284 

Post  Office,  211,  325,  432,  648 

Po-to-si',  in  Peru,  25 

Powell,  Major,  506 

Pow-ha-tan',  16,  45 

Preemption  Act,  360,  610 

Prescott,  William  H.,  314,  427 

President,  210,  211 
Electoral  Count  Act,  555 
Succession  Act,  555 

Presidential  election  (1788)  209,  (1792)  220, 
(1796)  228,  (1800)  233,  (18(4)  246,  (1808) 
252,  (1812)  261,  (1816)  290,  299.  (IS2») 
308,  (1832)  327-328,  (1836)  331-332,  (1840) 
337,  (1844)  341,  (1848)  850,  351,  (1852) 
392,  (1856)  392,  (1860)  404,  (1864)  476, 
(1868)  494,  (1872)  496,  (1876)  519-520, 
(1880)  522-528,  (1884)  526,  (1888)  528, 
(1892)  531,  (1896)  534,  (1900)  566,  (1904) 
605,  (1908)  613,  (1912)  621-622,  (1916) 
647-648 

P.-esq««  I*l«,  98 

Pribilof  Islands,  570 

Princeton,  battle,  142 

Princeton  College,  83 

Printing,  2,  77 

Prison  reform,  309-310 

Prisoners  in  Civil  War,  478 

Proclamation,  of  1763,  108,  159 
of  Emancipation,  474 
of  Neutrality,  224,  467 

Proctor,  Senator,  560 

Professional  schools,  202 

Progressive  party,  615,  621,  647 

Prohibition,  811,  606,  626 

Proprietary,  or  proprietor,  49.  62,  95 

Protective  tariff,  173,  215,  297,  302,  303,  469, 
526,  528 

Protectorates,  609,  635 

Providence,  51 

Provincial  Congress,  134 

Prii-d/iomm*',  Ft,  98 

Public  debt,  171,  172,  214,  238,  332,  469,  497, 
527 

Public  lands,  176-177,  267,  332,  869-361,  370, 

509,  610,  612 
grants  to  railroads,  375 

Pueb'los  (pweV-),  12,  18 

Pu-las'ki,  141 

Pullman  strike,  551-552  ' 

Pure  Food  Act,  606 


xlviii 


Index 


Puritans,  46,  47 
Put-in-Bay,  battle,  257 
Putnam,  Rufus,  179 

Quakers,  53,  54,  59,  194.  206 

Quebec'  (city),  attacked  by  English,  101 

captured  by  English,  102 

founded,  38 

Quebec  (province),, 161,  163 
Quebec  Act,  161 
Quin'cy  (-zt),  Josiah,  261 
Qui-vi'ra  (ke-),  25 

Railroads,  control  of,  543-547.  601,  606.  625 
growth,   371-375,   432,   507-509,    512,   539, 

579,  590-591 

improvements  in,  513.  (V42 
Ra'lcif/A,,  Sir  Walter,  29 
Randolph.  John,  280,  297 
Rankin,  John,  317 
Recall,  595,  620,  621 
Reciprocity,  525 
Rg-con-cen-tra'doB,  559 

Reconstruction,  478-480, 486-491, 495, 496, 526 
Redemptioners,  114 
Reed,  Thomas  B.,  555,  560 
Refercn'dum,  595,  620,  621 
Reformation,  Protestant,  26 
Reforms,  307-313 

Religious  reform,  307  ;  see  Churches 
Ren-ais-saNce'  (-e-),  2 
Republican  party  (Democratic),  220,  224,  227, 

230,  231,  254,  261,  300 ;  see  Democratic 
Republican  party  (later),  391-392,  402,  411, 

474.  496,  524,  594 
Rfi-sii'ca  dg  la  Piil'ma,  battle,  346 
Restoration  of  Charles  II,  57 
Re-ver«',  Paul.  135 
Revolution,  American.-126-148 
Revolution  in  France,  223,  306 
Rhode  Island,  51,  59,  67,  84,  85,  86,  156,  175, 

188,  190,  xvii 
Dorr  Rebellion,  838 
Ribanlt,  Jean  (zhiiN  re-bo'),  26 
Rice.  Ill,  194 

Richmond,  430,  445,  451,  459,  466 
Riders,  621 
Riots,  338 

River  and  harbor  bills,  370,  545 
Roads,  196-197,  219,  267-269,  271 
Ro-a-noke'  Island,  29 
Robertson,  James,  160 
Robinson,  Rev.  John,  46 
Rochambeau  (ro-shau-bo'),  148 
Roch'ester,  N.  Y.,  267 
Rock'e-fel-ler,  John  I).,  512 
Rocky  Mountains,  9,  589 


Roog'evelt,  Theodore,  548,  554,  563,  567,  570, 

598-699,  600,  605,  607,  609,  613,  621,  647 
Root,  Elihu,  599,  647 
Ro'se-crans,  Gen.,  443,  449,  450 
"  Rough  Riders,"  563 
Rule  of  1756,  225 
Rurnsey,  James,  199 
Rush,  Richard,  290 
Russia,  283,  291,493 
Ryswick,  Peace  of,  97 

Sacramento,  349 
Sii'ga,  Icelandic,  18 
St.  Au'gus-tine,  '2C>,  37 
St.  Clair,  Gen.,  180,  218 
St.  Croia;  Island,  685 

River,  170,  339 

St.  Germain  (saN-zhar-man'),  treaty  of,  39 
St.  John  Island,  635 
St.  Louis,  243,  267,  377,  424,  508 
St.  Louis,  Ft.,  93 
St.  Marys  settlement,  49 
St.  Pierre  (saN-pyar'),  102 
St.  Thomas  Island,  635 
Salem,  Mass.,  82 
Salt  Lake  City,  398 
Sa-ma-na'  (-na')  Bay,  493 
Sa-mo'a  Islands,  571.  634 
Sampson,  Admiral,  562.  563 
San  Francisco,  538,  53!),  606 
San  tl-dg-fon'so,  treaty  of,  240 
San  Juan  (hoo-an')  Island,  499 
San  Juan  Hill,  battle,  563 
San  Mar-tin',  Gen.,  285 
San  Sal-va-dor',  19 
Sanitary  Commission,  476 
San'ta  An'na,  Gen.,  345,  34« 
Santa  Fe  trail,  340 
Santa  Ma-rVa,  19 
Santee  Canal,  197 
San-tl-a'go  dg  Cuba,  562,  563 
San 'to  Do-min'go,  21,  30,  493,  500,  609,  627. 

635 

Sarato'ga,  surrender  at,  143 
Smirt  Ste.  (sant)  Ma'rie,  545 
Savannah,  founded,  6s 

in  Revolution,  147,  14* 

taken  by  Sherman,  456,  468 
Saybrook,  50,  76 
Scalawags,  491 
Se/ie-nec'ta-dy,  attacked,  96 
Sc/Uey,  Admiral,  562,  563 
Schools,  see  Education 
Schurz,  Carl  (shurts),  363 
Sci-o'to  Company,  177 
Scotch  settlers.  68        , 
Scotch- Irish  settlers,  73,  193 


Index 


xlix 


Scott.  Gen.  WinfieM,  260,  347,  387,  412 
Scahurv,  Samuel.  -204 
Seal  fishery  difficulty,  530,  570 
Secession,  404-407,  409-110,  412 

effect  of,  407-44)8,  410 
Sedition  Act,  280,  231 
Scm'i-noles,  861,  862 
Senate,  209 

Senators,  election,  625 
SOn'e-cas,  41  ;  nee  Iroquois 
Separatists.  4ii 

Xf-ni'jiiit,  captured  by  Jones,  146 
Seven  Pines,  battle,  446 
Seven  Years'  War,  101-103 
Severally  Act,  588 
SC-VHT',  John,  147,  160,  178 
Sev'ille,  69 
Sew'ard,  William  H.,  385,  406 

Secretary  of  State,  412,  415,  492 
Sey'moMr,"  Horatio,  494 
Sha'dra«A,  386 
Shafter,  Gen.,  562 
Shakers,  206 

Sharpsbiirg,  battle  near,  447 
Shaw,  Col.  Robert  G.,  475 
Shays's  Rebellion,  174 
Shenando'ah,  441 
Shenandoah  valley,  441,  445 
Shi-r'i-dan,  Gen.  Philip  H.,  456,  458,  459 
Sherman,  John,  521 

Sherman,   William  T.,  443,  450,    454,  456, 
459,  460 

march  to  the  sea,  455-456,  457,  4:>- 
Sherman  Act  (silver).  530 
Sherman  Antitrust  Law,  547,  601,  616 
Shi'loh.  battle,  443 
Shipbuilding,  ll'J 
Ships  (15S8),  30 

growth  of  shipping,  119-120 

subsidy  acts,  36!> 

Se.e  Steamboats 
Si-tVra  Le-o'ni-,  5 
Si-or'ra  Ne-va'da.  9 

Silver,  coinage,  216,  476,  498,  :>22,  530,  532, 
534,566 

mines,  V_".i 

Simms,  William  Gilmore,  428 
S/o(/,r  Indians,  92,  507 
Sitting  Bull,  507 
Six  Nations,  97  ;  see  Iroquois 
Slade,  William,  319 
Slater,  Samuel,  199 
Slave  insurrections,  316 
Slave  trade,  colonial,  35,  45,  121,  122 

foreign,  prohibited.  174.  'J7.ri.  :K1 

in  Constitution,  186  — 

in  District  of  Columbia,  prohibited,  356 


Slavery,  abolished  in   North,  174-175,   179, 
275,  472,  475,  687- 

abolished  in  South,  485-486 

abolished  in  territories,  47.' 

agitation,  275-276,  316-315,  350,  382-387 

colonial,  (587114-116,  195     - 

condition  of  slaves,  814-3 If, 

fugitive  slaves,  nee  Fugitive 

powers  of  Congress  over,  383 

representation  of  slaves  in  Congress,  185- 
186 

Texan,  342 

Sli-dell',  John,  344,  467 
Sloat,  Com.,  347 
Smith,  Caleb  B.,  414 
Smith,  Capt.  John,  45,  77 
Smith,  Gerrit,  318 
Smith,  Joseph,  308 
Social  development,  636-637 
Socialist  party,  605,  613 
Societies,  national,  639 
Soil,  8,  265 

Solid  South,  523,  577,  594,  605,  613 
Sons  of  Liberty,  130 
Sow-lg',  Pierre  (pyar),  388 
Sound  Money  Democrats,  584 
South  America,  18,  22 

independent,  284-286 

Spanish  in,  36 
South  Bend,  settled,  267 
South  Carolina,  62,  63,  67,  72,  162,  163,  189, 
491,  xvii 

French  in,  26 

nullification,  327-328 

Revolution  in,  141,  147 

secession,  404,  406,  487 

western  claims,  163.  176 
South  Dakota,  579,  xvii 
Sower,  Christopher,  7C 
Spain,  Black  Warrior  difficulty.  3gR 

boundary  controversies  with,  243--_>44 

claim  to  North  America.  'J5,  31 

colonies,  85-87,  69,  284-2*7 

conditions  in  1492,  5,  7 

discoveries,  19,  21,  23-25 

In  Revolution,  171! 

treaties.    (1795)  226,  241,   (1S19)  2S8,  290, 
(1898)  564 

war  with  England,  95 

war  with  U.  S.,  559-564 

West  Florida  dispute,  244,  287 
Specie  Circular,  332 
Specie  payments,  499,  521 
Spice  Islands,  4,  29 
Spinning,  machinery  for,  199,  367 
Spoils  system,  326 
Spots  wood,  Gov.,  91 


Index 


Squatter  sovereignty,  389 

Stamp  Act,  127-128,  129,  130 

Stamp  Act  Congress,  130 

Standard  Oil  Company,  512,  616 

"Standpatters,"  615 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  406,  489,  492 

Star-Spangled  Banner,  258 

States,  government  of,  157-158,  422-123,  590. 

645 

groups  of,  633 

receive  money  from  U.  9.,  332 
relations  to  U.S.,  280,  231,  296,  383,  401, 

486-487,  495,  645 
table  of,  xvi-xvii 
See  Secession,  Reconstruction,  etc.,  and 

names  of  the  states 
States  Rights,  231,  829,  466 
Stay  and  Tender  laws,  178 
Steamboats,  270-271,  868-369,  432,  60S 
Steel  making,  195,  513 
Stephens  (ste'venz),  Alexander  H.,-  407,  409, 

410,  460,  489 

Steu'ben,  Baron  von,  141 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  487 
Stone,  Lucy,  311 
Stone  River,  battle,  443 
StdM'6,  Harriet  Beecher,  382 
Stra'eAey,  William,  77 
"  Strict  Construction,"  217,  220,  272,  296 
Strikes,  516,  550,  551-552,  600 
Stuart,  Gen.  J.  E.  B.,  454 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  203,  252 
Stuy'vc-sant,  Peter,  58 
Submarine,  629,  647,  649 
Subways,  548 
Suffrage,  gee  Voters 
Sugar  Act,  127 
Sullivan,  Gen.,  162 
Sumner,  Charles,  487 
Sumter,  Ft.,  406,  412,  414-115,  416 
Sumter,  Gen.,  147 
Sunday  School,  307 
Supreme  Court,  187,  212,298-299,361,  394, 

490,  495,  498,  532,  542,  568,  616,  645 
Suiter's  Fort,  349 
Su**f<f.,  647 

Swedish  settlers,  41,  73 
Symines  Company,  177 

Taft,  William  H.,  568,  569,  609,  613,  614,  61 «. 

621 

Tallmadge,  James,  279 
Tam'many  Society,  201 
Ta'ney,  Roger  B.,  331,  895 
Tap'pan,  Arthur  and  Louis,  318 
Tariff,  in  the  dependencies,  568,  570 
on  imports  from  Cuba,  569 


Tariff  Acts  (1789)  216,  (1816)  296-297,  (1824) 
301,  (1828)  302,  (1832)    327,   (1S33)  328, 
(1842)  338,  (1846)  344,  (1857)  379,  (1861) 
469,   (1883)  524,  (1800)  529,   (1894)  531, 
(1897)  566,  (1909)  614,  (1913)  624 
Tariff  Commission,  615 
Taxation,  constitutional  provisions,  187 

See  Income  tax,  Tariff,  etc. 
Taylor,  ZaM'ary,  in  Mexican  War,  344,  346 

President,  350,  851,  353 
Tea  tax,  131,  182 
Technical  schools,  586,  587 
Te-cum'seh,  16,  258,  258 
Telegraph,  481,  513,  643 
Telephone,  514,  648 
Teller  Resolution,  561 
Temperance  movements,  68,  311 
Tennessee,  219,  266,  274,  416,  421,  485,  xvii 
Tenure  of  Office  Act,  492 
Tcr're  Haute  (hot'),  267 
Territories,    see    Northwest    Territory,    In- 
diana, etc. 
Territory,  growth  of,  634-685 
TeVry,  Eli,  199 
Texas,  288,  333,  334,  341,  342,  344,  347,  352, 

353,  406,  488,  634,  xvii 
Thames  (tcuiz),  battle,  25S 
Thomas,  Gen.  George  H.,  449,  458 
Thomas,  Senator,  279 
Three-fifths  rule,  186.  276 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  519,  520,  541 
Tippecanoe',  battle,  258 
Tobacco,  12,  45,  49,  63,  107,  111,  583 
Toleration  Act,  49 
Toombs,  Robert,  353,  408,  415 
Tor-dfi-sil'las  (-yas),  treaty  of,  22 
Tories,  xee  Loyalists 
Toronto,  258 
Tos-ca-nel'lT,  4 

ToMs-sa»N?'  L'rtu.-ver-ture',  241 
Town  government,  colonial,  87-88 
Town  meetings,  48,  88,  200,  238 
Town'sAend  Acts,  130,  131 
Trade,  gee  Commerce 
Trade  routes,  medieval,  3 
Trades  unions,  429,  515,  641 
Traf-al-gar',  battle,  247 

Transportation,  see  Railroads,  Canals,  Steam- 
boats 

Transylvania  Company,  161 
Travel  in  U.  S.,  577 
Treasury  notes,  261 
Treaties,    see    Commercial     treaties,     and 

treaties  by  name 
Trent  affair,  467 
Trenton,  8,  169  ;  battle,  142 
Trip'o-li,  war  with,  288-239 


Index 


Trist,  N.  P.,  347 
'I  ruck  forming,  588 
Trust  companies,  511 
Trusts,  641,  548,  601 
control  of,  547-649 
Tu-lane7  University,  586 
Tur-gS<7,  127 
Turks,  8 
Turner,  Nat,  816 
Turnpikes,  197 
Tuscaro'ra  Indians,  97 
Tuskegee,  587 
Tn-tn-i'la,  571 
Twain,  Mark,  270 
Tweed  Ring,  540 
Tyler,  John,  338,  341,  342 

r>,cle  Tow'*  Cabin,  382 
"  Underground  Railroad,"  851,  884 
Underwood  tariff,  624 
Union.  Franklin's  plan  of,  99,  159 
Universities,  88,  2i»2.  :<12,  4'J6,  593 
jj"'lali,  3lRt,  355,  398,  f»l,  xvii 
I  'irevAt,  P.-ace  of,  97,  121 

Vail,  Alfred,  431 
Vallan'digAam,  Clement  L.,  465 
Valley  Forge,  144 
Van  Buren,  Martin,  304,  825,  828 

President,  832,  888 

presidential  candidate,  881,  351 
Vanda'lia  Company,  160, 161 
Vanderbilt,  Cornelius,  508 
Vanderbilt,  William  H.,  548 
Ven-e-/ue'la  (-/we7-),  284,  632,  607-608 
Vfi7ra  Cruz  (krooe),  347,  626 
Vermont7,  157,  174,  218,  xvii 
Ver-ra-/a'no  (-rat-sa7-),  26 
Ve7gey,  Denmark,  316 
Vespu7cius,  AmeVicus,  22 
Vieksburg,  443,  447-448 
Vigilance  committees,  349 
Vin-cenn«s',  94,  159,  163 
Virgin  Islands,  686 

Virginia,  24,  29,  31,  44,  45,  63,  72,  189,  416, 
485,  xvii 

Revolution  in,  129,  130, 181,  133,  147 

western  claims,  159,  168,  165,  175,  176,  219 
Virginia  Plan  of  Constitution,  184 
Virginia  Resolutions,  180,  231,  409 
!'//•£//» •»««,  500 

-.Voters,  85,  157,  207,  288,  276,  328,  594,  621, 
648 

negro,  490,  491,  495,  496,  520,  594 

Vuke  Island.  571.  635 
Walk-in-Uie-  Water,  271 


Walker,  Robert  ,T.,  344,  393 
War  for  Independence,  134-.148 
War  of  1812,  254-260,  272,  295 
War  with  Germany,  649-650 
Ward,  Artemus,  427 

Wars,  xfr  Indian  wars,  and  wars  by  name 
Washington    (city),   229,  258,  351,"  423,  445, 
464 

treaty  of,  499 

Washington  (state),  579,  580,  xvii 
Washington,  Booker  T.,  587 
Washington,  George,  27 

Constitution,  182,  184,  189 

death,  232 

farewell  address,  228 

French  and  Indian  War,  99,  101 

President,  209,  210,  218,  2*28,  224,  227 

Revolution,   188,   185,   186,   187,   141,   14'.', 
144, 145-146,  147,  148 

writings  of,  172,  181,208 
Washingto7nian  societies,  311 
Wa-tau7ga  settlement,  160,  176 
Water  power,  conservation  of,  612 
Wat'ling  (wot7-)  Island,  19 
Watson,  K I  km  i  ah,  197 
Wayn«,  Gen.  Anthony,  219 
Wealth,  688,  636,  642 
Webster,  Daniel,  301,  327,  380-381,  840,  852 

868 

Webster,  Noah,  314 
Webster-Ashburton  treaty,  889 
Weed,  Thurlow,  385,  423 " 
Welles,  Gideon,  414 
Wesley,  -lohn  and  Charles,  83 
West,  Benjamin,  203 
West  Florida,  240,  241,  244,  287,  288,  684 
West  Indies,  25,  85,  111,  115,  172,  288,  498 
West  Point,  in  Revolution,  147 

Military  Academy,  818 
West  Virginia,  421^  476,  476,  478,  485,  xvii 
Western  Reserve,  176 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  513 
West;inghouse,  George,  515 
Whig  party,  382,  887,  887 
Whisky  insurrections,  227 
Whisky  Ring  of  1875,  512 
White  House,  229,  284 
White,  John,  29 
White'fleld,  Rev.  George,  88 
Whitman,  Dr.  Marcus,  840 
Whitney,  Eli,  195 
Whit7ti-er,  John  G.,  818,  426 
Wigglesworth,  Michael,  78 
Wilderness  campaign,  451 
Wilderness  Hoad.  101,  196 
Wilkes,  Capt.  Charles,  467 
Wilkinson,  James,  246,  258 


Index 


Wil-la'metfe  valley,  343,  348 

William  III,  67 

William  and  Mary  College,  75 

Williams,  Koger,  51 

Wilmington,  Del.,  41 

Wilmot  Proviso,  345,  350 

Wilson,  James,  182 

Wilson,  William  L.,  tariff,  531 

Wilson,    Woodrow,   622-«23,   626,  6-17    648 

649 

Winthrop,  John,  48,  77 
Wisconsin,  352,  xvii 
Witchcraft  in  the  colonies,  81-82 
Wolfe,  Gen.  James,  101 
Woman  suffrage,  311,  625-626,  CBS 
"  Woman's  Rights  "  movement,  311 
Women,  education,  425,  638 
Wood,  Gen.  Leonard,  569 


Woohnan,  John,  174 
Wright,  Frances,  311 
Writs  of  assistance,  128 
Wy'eth,  Nathaniel  J.,  340 
Wy-o'ming,  506,  581,  625,  xvii 
Wyoming  Valley,  attack  on,  162 

X.  Y.  Z.  controversy,  229-230 

Yale  College,  76 
York,  Duke  of,  58,  59,  60,  67 
Yorktown,  148,  169,  445 
Young,  Brighstn,  393,  394 

Zen'ger,  John  Peter,  77 
Zollicoffer,  Gen.,  Felix  K.,  449 
Zu/nis  (-nyee§),  12,  13 


2  7  i 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 

,/ 


MAY  1  9  1932 
MAR  24 


MAY  2  9  193? 
OCT  25 
KAR  2  t  19 


1CT  2  3  1938 


DEC  10  194( 
JAN  8      1941 


FormL-9-15m-7,'31 


f»  r 

JUN  *  9  194ft  ^ 

JAN  6     1943 

JULilOWB 


AUG  2 
MAR  23 


QCT6- 
RC4 

$$i 

&*& 


91 


JAN  1  0  1951 
FEB  -  5  1952 


NOV  28 


W*H 


3  1158  00729  9265 


